Thunderstorms MCQ Questions and Answers for Practice

1. At what time of day is the occurrence of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes most likely?

1. At night
2. Morning
3. Afternoon
4. All times are equally likely

2. The downdraft in a single-cell thunderstorm is created mainly by the

1. converging gust fronts
2. electrical potential between the cloud and ground
3. release of latent heat as cloud water freezes
4. evaporation of raindrops that cool the air

3. At solar noon on a cloudless day, the UV exposure in Tucson is.................the UV exposure on Mt. Lemmon

1. greater than
2. less than
3. the same as

4. Even though the industrialized nations of the world ceased production of CFCs, the ozone hole will still occur for several more decades

1. True Statement
2. False Statement

5. If the atmosphere is stable for lifted parcels, which of the following is most correct?

1. Clouds can not form
2. If clouds form, then they will be cumuliform-type clouds
3. If clouds form, then they will be stratiform-type clouds
4. Only fog can form surface parcels can never rise above the ground

6. If you see a lightning stroke and 10 seconds later hear the thunder, the lightning is about..................miles away

1. 2
2. 5
3. 10
4. 20

7. In the Bergeron process of precipitation formation,.................shrink while..............grow large enough to fall toward the ground

1. liquid cloud droplets; ice crystals
2. ice crystals; liquid cloud droplets

8. In the summer months, the average high temperature in Phoenix is hotter than it is in Tucson. Therefore, people living in Phoenix are more susceptible to getting sunburned than people living in Tucson

1. True Statement
2. False Statement

9. Lightning often occurs within a cloud without ever hitting the ground

1. True Statement
2. False Statement

10. No one foresaw the possibility that so many U.S. citizens could be killed by a single hurricane in todays world such as happened with Hurricane Katrina in 2005

1. True Statement
2. False Statement

11. On average, which ocean basin produces the most hurricanes per year?

1. Western North Pacific (near southeast Asia) where they are called typhoons
2. Eastern North Pacific (off Mexico Coast)
3. North Atlantic Ocean
4. Western South Pacific (near Australia) where they are called severe tropical cyclones

12. On average, which weather phenomenon is responsible for the most deaths in the United States per year?

1. Hurricanes
2. Lightning
3. Tornadoes
4. Heat Waves

13. Single-cell thunderstorms only last about one hour and begin to dissipate when

1. lightning neutralizes all the electrical charge in the cloud
2. all the precipitation particles in the cloud turn to ice
3. downdrafts spread throughout the cloud and cut off updrafts
4. solar heating at the ground begins to decrease

14. The average number of people in the U.S. who are killed by extreme weather events each year is about the same as the number who are killed in vehicle accidents

1. True Statement
2. False Statement

15. The greatest number of thunderstorms per year occurs over which area of the Earth?

1. Tropical oceans
2. Mount Everest
3. Tropical land areas
4. Polar regions