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Weather quiz #1

Grab a pencil and paper and test your weather knowledge with this deceptively easy quiz. Watch out for the occasional trick question.

If you’d rather just look at pretty ice storm photographs, click here or the picture on the left. For extra credit, read about a day in the life of a weather observer, or (just for fun) a day in the life of a meteorologist’s cat. Don’t worry, this is a low pressure test. (Pun intended.)

The following questions are from one of several short weather tests created by Eric Pinder for an online “Meteorology 101” course. See below for answers.

1. “Dog days” refer to:

A. The ancient Egyptian belief that the star Sirius adds to the Sun’s warmth in August.

B. Dogs running and turning corners, chasing scents as air pressure drops before a summer storm.

C. Dogs being lazy on a hot, humid summer day.

D. Both B and C.

2. If you put a standard National Weather Service thermometer on the surface of Venus and then checked it 24 hours later, which of the following temperatures would the thermometer most likely report?

A. -90 degrees

B. 90 degrees

C. 900 degrees

D. None. The thermometer would be broken.

3. In the Northern Hemisphere, if you stand outside facing the wind, high pressure will be:

A. To your right

B. To your left

C. Directly overhead

D. Behind you.

4. The weather is sunny but cool today. Therefore, the jet stream is...?

A. A ridge looping to the north, indicating high pressure

B. A trough looping to the south, indicating low pressure

C. A ridge looping to the south, indicating high pressure

D. A trough looping to the north, indicating low pressure

5. It has been snowing constantly for the past 8 hours, and about an inch of wet snow is on your driveway waiting to be shoveled. The snow has just changed to freezing drizzle. The wind is probably...?

A. Blowing from the northwest

B. Blowing from the southwest

C. Calm

D. Blowing at hurricane force

6. “Bees never get caught in the rain” because:

A. They detect a drop in air pressure and stay in their hives.

B. Cirrostratus clouds decrease polarized light.

C. Clouds moving in ahead of a storm increase polarized light.

D. Bees are waterproof.

7. Which is the coldest layer of the atmosphere?

A. The troposphere

B. The tropopause

C. The mesosphere

D. The ozone layer

8. What is the dew point?

A. The temperature at which water vapor in an air mass will condense.

B. The temperature at which relative humidity reaches 80 percent.

C. Dew point is the same as relative humidity.

D. The temperature at which air evaporates.

9. The Coriolis effect and pressure gradient force are the two main influences on the direction of wind. What’s the third factor in this meteorological tug-of-war?

A. The planet Venus

B. Friction

C. Water vapor

D. Earth’s distance from the Sun

10. Cows lie down before a rain...

A. because the lower air pressure makes them feel light-headed.

B. because of instinct-to avoid being struck by lightning.

C. because the increasing humidity strengthens scents and odors in hay and grasses, making it tastier.

D. for the same reason they lie down during and after a rain--they’re tired.

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Text and photographs © Eric Pinder