Name: ______________________ Class: _________________ Date: _________ ID: A Meteorology Practice Exam 3: Chapters 11-14 Multiple Choice Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question. ____ 1. Squall lines most often form ahead of a: a. cold front. b. warm front. c. cold-type occluded front. d. warm-type occluded front. e. stationary front. ____ 2. The origin of cP and cA air masses that enter the United States is: a. Northern Siberia. b. Northern Atlantic Ocean. c. Antarctica. d. Northern Canada and Alaska. ____ 3. Which of the following statements is most plausible? a. In winter, cP source regions have higher temperatures than mT source regions. b. In summer, mP source regions have higher temperatures than cT source regions. c. In winter, cA source regions have lower temperatures than cP source regions. d. In summer, mT source regions have lower temperatures than mP source regions. e. They are all equally plausible. ____ 4. Compared to an mP air mass, mT air is ____. a. warmer and drier b. warmer and moister c. colder and drier d. colder and moister ____ 5. One would expect a cP air mass to be: a. cold and dry. b. cold and moist. c. warm and dry. d. warm and moist. ____ 6. What type of air mass would be responsible for refreshing cool, dry breezes after a long summer hot spell in the Central Plains? a. mP b. mT c. cP d. cT ____ 7. Generally, the greatest lake effect snow fall will be on the ____ shore of the Great Lakes. a. northern b. southern c. eastern d. western 1 Name: ______________________ ID: A ____ 8. What type of air mass would be responsible for persistent cold, damp weather with drizzle along the east coast of North America? a. mP b. mT c. cP d. cT e. cA ____ 9. The air mass with the highest actual water vapor content is ____. a. mT b. cT c. mP d. cP ____ 10. What type of air mass would be responsible for hot, dry summer weather in southern Arizona? a. mP b. mT c. cP d. cT ____ 11. Along the boundary between continental polar and maritime tropical air masses, ____ is often found. a. a large area of calm (extremely light wind) b. intense heat and drought c. widespread precipitation and storminess d. both a and c ____ 12. A stationary front does not move because: a. winds on both sides of the front are calm. b. the winds blow parallel to the front. c. the front is between high and low pressure. d. the winds blow against each other and are of equal strength. ____ 13. On a weather map, this front, drawn in blue, represents a region where colder air is replacing warmer air: a. warm front. b. cold front. c. cold-type occluded front. d. warm-type occluded front. ____ 14. The rising of warm air up and over cold air is called: a. overrunning. b. frontolysis. c. frontogenesis. d. occlusion. 2 Name: ______________________ ID: A ____ 15. What type of weather front would be responsible for the following weather forecast? "Increasing high cloudiness and cold this morning. Clouds increasing and lowering this afternoon with a chance of snow or rain tonight. Precipitation ending tomorrow morning. Turning much warmer. Winds light easterly today becoming southeasterly tonight and southwesterly tomorrow." a. cold front b. warm front c. stationary front d. warm-type occluded front ____ 16. The upper air flow on the map below would bring ____ air masses into western Canada and the United States, and ____ air masses into the eastern United States. a. mP; mT b. cA; mP c. mP; cP d. cA; mT e. cT; mT ____ 17. The below diagram represents a side view of: a. a cold front. b. a warm front. c. an occluded front. d. a stationary front. 3 Name: ______________________ ID: A Exhibit 11-2 Use the surface weather map to answer the question(s). ____ 18. Refer to Exhibit 11-2. Heavy snow would most likely be falling at position: a. 1. b. 2. c. 3. d. 4. ____ 19. Refer to Exhibit 11-2. Clearing skies are most likely at position: a. 1. b. 2. c. 3. d. 4. ____ 20. Refer to Exhibit 11-2. Which position is located in the warm sector? a. 1 b. 2 c. 3 d. 4 ____ 21. According to the model of the life cycle of a wave cyclone, the storm system is normally most intense: a. as a frontal wave. b. as a stable wave. c. as an open wave. d. as a stationary wave. e. when the system first becomes occluded. ____ 22. In the polar front theory of a developing wave cyclone, energy for the storm is usually derived from all but which of the following? a. rising of warm air and the sinking of cold air b. latent heat of condensation c. an increase in surface winds d. heat energy stored in the ground ____ 23. Which region is not considered to be a region where cyclogenesis often occurs? a. eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains b. Atlantic Ocean near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina c. California d. the Great Basin of the United States e. Gulf of Mexico 4 Name: ______________________ ID: A ____ 24. If the flow of air into a surface low pressure area is greater than the divergence of air aloft, the surface pressure in the center of the low will: a. increase. b. decrease. c. remain the same. d. deepen. ____ 25. Cyclogenesis is the ____ of a mid-latitude cyclone. a. development or strengthening b. weakening or dissipation c. term for the exact midpoint d. none of these ____ 26. When an upper-level low lies directly above a surface low, a. the surface low will probably weaken. b. thunderstorms will develop. c. a wave cyclone will begin to form. d. the pressure of the surface low will decrease. e. cyclogenesis will occur. ____ 27. For a surface storm system to intensify, the upper-level low (or trough) should be located to the ____ of the surface low. a. north b. south c. east d. west ____ 28. Developing low pressure areas generally have ____ air near the surface and ____ air aloft. a. converging; diverging b. diverging; converging c. converging; converging d. diverging; diverging ____ 29. When upper-level divergence of air above a surface low pressure area is stronger than the convergence of surface air, the surface pressure will ____ and the storm itself will ____. a. increase; intensify b. increase; dissipate c. decrease; intensify d. decrease; dissipate ____ 30. Atmospheric shortwaves usually move ____ than longwaves, and ____ when they move through a longwave ridge. a. faster; weaken b. faster; strengthen c. slower; weaken d. slower; strengthen 5 Name: ______________________ ID: A ____ 31. A small, moving disturbance imbedded in a longwave is called: a. a lee-side low. b. a wave cyclone. c. a shortwave. d. a frontal wave. ____ 32. During baroclinic instability, a. wave cyclones can intensify into large storm systems. b. strong wind speed shear exists from the surface up to at least the 500 mb level. c. rising and descending air motions exist. d. temperature advection is occurring. e. all of these ____ 33. Referring to the diagram below, if the winds are all blowing at constant speed, confluence of air is occurring at point: a. 1. b. 2. c. 3. d. 4. ____ 34. Front A in the figure below is a Southern Hemisphere ____ front and is moving toward the ____. a. warm; north b. warm; south c. cold; north d. cold; south e. none of these ____ 35. A weather watch would probably be issued for which of the following conditions? a. There is a chance for tornadoes tomorrow. b. Presently, extremely high winds are occurring at mountain summits. c. A tornado has been sighted at the outskirts of town. d. Heavy snow has been falling over the forecast area. 6 Name: ______________________ ID: A ____ 36. Suppose it is warm and raining, and a cold front is moving toward your location. Directly behind the cold front, it is cold and snowing. Still further behind the front, the weather is cold and clearing. If the front is scheduled to pass your area in 6 hours, a persistence forecast for your area for 12 hours from now would be: a. cold and snowing. b. cold and clearing. c. cold and cloudy. d. warm and raining. e. not enough information on which to base a forecast. ____ 37. Predicting the weather by weather types employs which forecasting method? a. probability b. steady-state c. analogue d. persistence e. guess ____ 38. The forecasting technique that produces several versions of a forecast model, each beginning with slightly different weather information to reflect errors in the measurements, is called: a. climatology forecasting. b. redundancy analysis. c. persistence forecasting. d. ensemble forecasting. e. probability forecasting. ____ 39. The forecasting of weather by a computer is known as: a. weather type forecasting. b. climatology forecasting. c. extended weather forecasting. d. analogue prediction. e. numerical weather prediction. ____ 40. Ordinary thunderstorms only last about one hour and begin to dissipate when: a. lightning neutralizes all the electrical charge in the cloud. b. when all the precipitation particles in the cloud turn to ice. c. when the downdraft spreads throughout the cloud and cuts off the updraft. d. when solar heating at the ground begins to decrease. ____ 41. Severe thunderstorms are different from ordinary thunderstorms in that severe thunderstorms: a.