What extremely powerful computers do meteorologists use to generate weather forecasts?
What is a supercomputer
What device is used to measure the amount of rainfall that a location receives?
rain gauge
Heat from a fireplace causes air to circulate throughout a room as hot air rises and cold air sinks. What is this type of air circulation called?
What is a convection current
What forms when water vapor in the air touches cool ground and turns into a liquid?
dew
Which type of cloud is characteristically almond shaped?
What is a lenticular cloud
What term refers to numbers and symbols on a weather map that indicate observations at a particular weather station?
What is station model
What is an instrument that measures wind speed?
What is an anemometer
What are the surface winds that blow toward the equator in the tropics?
What are trade winds
What thunderstorm stage is marked by the arrival of precipitation?
What is a mature stage
What is radiation fog that extends no more than 2 m (6 ft) above the ground called?
What is shallow fog
What is a single updraft system in a thunderstorm?
What is a cell
What instrument indicates the direction of wind?
What is a weather vane
What term describes atmospheric conditions that limit the height to which rising air can travel?
What is stable
What is the feathery deposit of ice crystals that forms when water vapor crystallizes on the ground?
What is frost
Which type of cloud usually produces heavy rains, strong winds, and sometimes hail or tornadoes?
What is a cumulonimbus cloud
What is a rotating column of air that starts on the ground and is not associated with a cloud?
What is a dust devil
What is the weather instrument that simultaneously measures and transmits meteorological data from weather balloons to weather stations
What is a radiosonde
What is the change in the direction of winds caused by Earth's rotation?
What is the Coriolis effect
What is the movement of water from the earth's surface, into the air, and back to the surface?
What is the hydrologic cycle
What type of high-level clouds form wispy streamers that look like feathers or hair?
What I a cirrus cloud
What indicates that a frontal cyclone has reached its full strength?
What is the formation of an occluded front
What instrument uses a flexible, airtight metal box to measure changes in atmospheric pressure?
What is a aneroid barometer
What is the point where the solar wind pushes on Earth's magnetic field?
What is the magnetopause
What is the type of precipitation that forms when falling balls of ice are swept into the upper layers of a thunderstorm
What is hail
Which type of lightning comes from the top of a large thunderstorm?
What is positive cloud-to-ground lightning