Twister Sister!
This is a rapidly rotating column of air that reaches from a thunderstorm to the ground.
What is a tornado?
This sound is caused by air rapidly expanding after lightning heats it.
What is thunder?
This huge tropical storm forms over warm ocean water and has a rotating center.
What is a hurricane?
This is a long period of unusually little precipitation that can cause water shortages.
What is a drought?
This weather alert means dangerous weather is possible and conditions should be monitored.
What is a watch?
This region of the central United States experiences many tornadoes.
What is Tornado Alley?
This tall storm cloud is responsible for thunderstorms and sometimes hail.
What is a cumulonimbus cloud?
This is the relatively calm center of a hurricane.
What is the eye?
This dangerous flood develops rapidly, often after intense rainfall.
What is a flash flood?
This weather alert means dangerous weather is occurring or imminent, so protective action is needed.
What is a warning?
Tornadoes often develop from this type of powerful, rotating thunderstorm.
What is a supercell thunderstorm?
This frozen form of precipitation grows inside thunderstorms as strong updrafts carry ice particles upward.
What is hail?
This severe winter storm combines strong winds, blowing snow, and very low visibility for an extended period.
What is a blizzard?
This is a prolonged period of unusually hot weather.
What is a heat wave?
During a tornado warning, this is generally the safest location inside a sturdy building.
What is a basement or lowest-floor interior room away from windows?
A meteorologist reports that conditions are favorable for tornadoes, but none has been detected yet. Later, radar detects rotation in a dangerous storm approaching your town. Name the two different weather alerts that would be issued, in order, and explain what people should do when each is issued.
First, a tornado watch: monitor conditions and prepare to shelter. Then, a tornado warning: take shelter immediately in a basement or lowest-floor interior room, away from windows.
This rotating, funnel-shaped cloud becomes a tornado when its circulation reaches the ground.
What is a funnel cloud?
This electrical discharge can occur between clouds or between a cloud and the ground.
What is lightning?
This hurricane hazard occurs when storm winds push ocean water onto normally dry coastal land.
What is storm surge?
This dangerous condition occurs when the body becomes unable to control its temperature during extreme heat.
What is heat stroke?
This is the safest action when thunder is heard while playing outdoors.
What is going inside a substantial building or hard-topped vehicle?
These two atmospheric conditions involving temperature and wind help powerful rotating thunderstorms form.
What are atmospheric instability and wind shear?
These powerful rising air currents help hailstones grow before they fall to Earth.
What are updrafts?
A hurricane generally weakens after moving over land because it loses access to this important energy source.
What is warm, moist ocean air supplied by warm ocean water?
Very dry, hardened, or already saturated ground increases flash flooding because less rainwater soaks into the soil. This is what the excess surface water is called.
What is runoff?
This is why driving through a flooded roadway is dangerous, even when the water appears shallow.
What is that floodwater can hide road damage and sweep a vehicle away?