Exam 14: Weather Patterns and Severe Weather

Generally, three stages are involved in the development of thunderstorms: the cumulus stage, mature stage, and ________ stage.

Thunderstorms are associated with cumulonimbus clouds.

A tornado watch is issued by the National Weather Service after a tornado has been sighted in an area.

At any given time, an estimated ________ thunderstorms are in progress on Earth, most of them in the tropics. This results in around ________ thunderstorms on Earth every day.

Because instability and buoyancy are enhanced by high surface temperatures, thunderstorms are most common in the afternoon and early evening.

The new generation of weather radar that is capable of detecting precipitation motion directly is called ________ radar.

When a hurricane enters the coastal zone, the most devastating damage usually results from ________.

Maritime tropical air is the source of much, if not most, of the ________ received in the eastern two-thirds of the United States.

Describe "Lake effect" snows in the Great Lakes region and how they form.

Cold fronts are about twice as ________ as warm fronts and move more rapidly, too. These two factors mean warm air is forced aloft more rapidly, and more dramatic weather is produced.

Depending on the context, the word ________ may refer to a tornado, a hurricane, or a large-scale atmospheric system in the mid-latitudes. Though on different scales, all have in common a rotational pattern of winds.

Where warm, moist, unstable mT air seldom penetrates, such as along the west coast of the United States, ________.

When a hurricane moves onto land, it rapidly loses its punch; that is, the storm declines in intensity. Which of the factors listed below contribute to this loss of storm energy?

Should people be more concerned about tornado warnings or tornado watches?

Cold fronts advance at a rate of about ________.

Continental polar air masses seldom influence the weather south of the Great Lakes.

Sometimes lightning is produced without any associated thunder.

________ refers to the situation where a warm air glides up along the edge of a cold air mass.

A mature mid-latitude cyclone with a center of low pressure is about 200 to 300 kilometers (125 to 200 miles)north of your location. If it takes 3 days to pass your location, on which day would temperatures likely be warmest? On which day would they likely be coldest?

Identify and label each of the color-coded air masses in these two figures. Label figure A and B to state which season they depict.