First, thanks for your interest in the How Well Do You Know Weather quiz post from a few weeks ago. Some people sent responses and several said they enjoyed the quiz even if they didn’t send in answers.
Without further ado, here are the questions and answers:
1. Small puffy clouds with flat bases are called ______________ clouds.
Answer: Cumulus. There are several subtypes of cumulus clouds that I will talk about in a future post.
2. True or False: Heat lightning is formed from heat on warm summer evenings.
Answer: False. The lightning is from a thunderstorm that is too far away to be seen or heard, and what is being seen is the ambient light from a lightning bolt.
3. True or False: It is never too cold to snow.
Answer: True. Think about polar regions that get much colder than middle latitudes. They still have snow. However, the snowflakes will be very small.
4. For a surface low to strengthen, upper air _______ must exceed surface ________.
Answer: Divergence, convergence. What this means is air spreading out thousands of feet up must be happening faster than air coming into the low at the surface. AS long as this occurs, surface low pressure will go lower, causing air at the surface to flow faster into the center of low pressure. Yeah, that was a tough one.
5. In the 1970s hit song, why can Johnny Nash see clearly now?
Answer: Because the rain is gone! I really like that song.
6. A large, slowly rotating cluster of nighttime thunderstorms is called what?
Answer: A mesoscale convective system. It actually is a cluster of storms that strengthens at night typically dissipates in the morning.
7. True or False: Thunder is caused by a degrading shock wave.
Answer: True. Just like a bomb, the massive heating of air caused by lightning creates a shock wave that quickly degrades to a sound wave.
8. A name given to this weather event was also made into a movie featuring a flying cow.
Answer: I was looking for "Twister", but would have also taken "tornado."
9. Hurricanes cannot form at this latitude due to a lack of Coriolis force.
Answer: The equator. The closest a hurricane will form near the equator is about 3° to 5° north or south latitude. The Coriolis force helps create the spin of a hurricane.
10. A car is a safe place to be during a lightning storm because of this reason?
Answer: The metal cage of the car frame. It directs electricity away from occupants.
I’ll post another quiz in a few months. Study up!
ABOUT THE BLOG: All About Weather is a blog by Duane Friend that explores the environment, climate, and weather topics for Illinois. Get in-depth information about things your weather app doesn't cover from summer droughts to shifting weather patterns. Never miss a new post! Sign up for our email list.
MEET THE AUTHOR: Duane Friend is an energy and environmental stewardship educator with University of Illinois Extension, serving the organization in many roles since 1993. Duane provides information and educational programs to adult and youth audiences in the areas of soil quality, weather and climate, energy conservation, and disaster preparedness. These programs provide practical solutions for families, farms, and communities. He assists families in creating a household emergency plan, farmers with the implementation of soil management and conservation practices, and local government officials and business owners with energy conservation techniques.