Extreme Weather Phenomena Quiz

About Extreme Weather Phenomena Quiz

Test your knowledge of nature's wildest weather, from hurricanes and tornadoes to rainbows and ball lightning. Extreme Weather Phenomena Quiz packs 15 multiple-choice questions with a mix of 6 medium, 5 easy, 4 hard questions into a relaxed session of roughly 7 minutes — no sign-up, no timer pressure. An explanation appears after every answer, and finishing once a day keeps your streak alive.

A few sample questions

1. 1. What is the name for a rotating column of air that reaches from a thunderstorm down to the ground?

   Answer: Tornado

   A tornado is a violent, rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the earth's surface. The United States experiences more tornadoes than any other country in the world.

2. 2. What is the highest wind speed category on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale?

   Answer: Category 5

   Category 5 is the highest rating on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, with sustained winds exceeding 157 mph. These storms cause catastrophic damage and can level well-built homes.

3. 3. What do meteorologists call the calm, clear center of a hurricane?

   Answer: The eye

   The eye of a hurricane is a roughly circular area of calm weather at the storm's center. It is surrounded by the eyewall, which contains the most intense winds and rainfall.

4. 4. What is the term for a severe snowstorm with strong winds that creates whiteout conditions?

   Answer: Blizzard

   A blizzard is defined by winds of at least 35 mph, heavy snowfall, and visibility reduced to less than a quarter mile for at least three hours. The Great Blizzard of 1888 buried parts of the northeastern United States under several feet of snow.

5. 5. Which ocean basin uses the name 'typhoon' instead of 'hurricane' for the same type of tropical storm?

   Answer: Western Pacific Ocean

   Typhoons are tropical cyclones that form in the Western Pacific Ocean. The same weather system is called a hurricane in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific, but the science behind all three is identical.

Things you'll learn along the way

• ✓Lightning superheats the surrounding air to about 30,000 Kelvin almost instantly, causing it to expand explosively — and that rapid expansion creates the sound wave we hear as thunder. Because light travels faster than sound, you see the lightning before you hear the thunder.
• ✓El Nino is a climate pattern marked by unusually warm ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific. It can trigger droughts, floods, and other extreme weather events worldwide and occurs every two to seven years.
• ✓A haboob is an intense wall of dust and sand blown by strong downdraft winds from a collapsing thunderstorm. These dramatic storms are common in the Sahara Desert, the Arabian Peninsula, and the American Southwest.