Weather

Question 1

1. On the Hurricane web quest, what happened to wind speed in hurricane Katrina as the pressure dropped?

Answer 1

When air pressure decreases, wind speed increases.

Question 2

2. What type of weather change does a cold front bring?

Answer 2

A cold front brings heavy rain, storms, and cooler temperatures.

Question 3

3. What type of weather change does a warm front bring?

Answer 3

A warm front brings steady precipitation and warmer temperatures.

Question 4

4. What happens at a stationary & an occluded front?

Answer 4

Stationary Front - warm air mass meets cold air mass and neither advance.

Occluded Front - fast moving cold air mass overtakes a slower moving warm air mass.

Question 5

5. How do you know the direction a front is moving?

What is different about the air on each side of the front? .

Answer 5

The side that the symbol is facing.

density & temperature

Question 6

6. What type of weather is associated with a High (H) pressure system? Explain why.

Answer 6

A high pressure system brings clear weather because dry air is forced toward the ground

Question 7

7. What type of weather is associated with a Low (L) pressure system? Explain why.

Answer 7

A low pressure system brings clouds and precipitation because air rises, cools, and condenses

Question 8

8. How does the sun affect weather?

Answer 8

Warms the atmosphere, causes evaporation, & warms the ocean surface

Question 9

9. How does relative humidity effect the chance for precipitation?

Answer 9

Warmer temperature holds more water vapor than Cooler temperature, so the more water vapor in the air compared to how much it can actually hold gives a greater chance of precipitation

Question 10

10. What is a cumulonimbus cloud?

Answer 10

Thunderstorm clouds

Question 11

11. What is temperature?

Answer 11

Speed of air molecules

Question 12

12. What are the following weather instruments used for?

Answer 12

anemometer – wind speed
barometer – air pressure
hygrometer, psychrometer - relative humidity

Question 13

13. What happens to a hurricane when it moves over land?

Answer 13

It gets weaker

Question 14

14. What happens to a hurricane when it moves warm ocean water?

Answer 14

Gets stronger

Question 15

15. What happens to a hurricane when it moves cool ocean water?

Answer 15

Gets weaker

Question 16

16. What is the difference between westerlies & easterlies (trade winds)?

Answer 16

Westerlies blow from the west to east and cause hurricanes to turn away from United States.

Trade winds blow hurricanes from east to west toward the US.

Question 17

17. What is the latitude line that divides the trade winds from the Westerlies?

Answer 17

30 degrees N latitude

Question 18

18. List the 5 ingredients for a hurricane.

Answer 18

warm ocean water at least 80 degrees, high humidity, converging winds, low wind shear, at least 300 miles from equator

Question 19

19. Identify what causes the deflection of air in the diagram below?

What is it called?

Answer 19

Earth’s rotation

Coriolis affect

Question 20

20. Why doesn’t a hurricane form near the equator?

Answer 20

The Coriolis effect is not strong enough to cause the storm to rotate

Question 21

21. List the order a storm grows to become a hurricane in order from weakest to strongest.

Answer 21

tropical disturbance, tropical depression, tropical storm, hurricane (Category 1-5)

Question 22

22. What causes clouds & fog to form?

Answer 22

Water vapor cools to the dew point and condenses on particles in the atmosphere

Question 23

23. What affect does altitude have on temperature in the troposphere?

Answer 23

Temperature decreases as attitude increases