Temperature

1. Which of the following is true with respect to air temperature?

c. Warm air rises because it is less dense than cold air.
2. Which of the following is not true about the Earth's seasons?
d. On June 21st, the summer solstice, the Sun's rays are directly overhead at
noon everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere.
3. Which of the following gases is the second most abundant gas in the Earths
atmosphere?
b. Oxygen (O2)
4. Which of the following statements best describes why the Earth has seasons?
d. The Earth's axis is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees so that the Northern
Hemisphere has less direct sunlight in winter and more direct sunlight in
summer.
5. Which of the following cities would have the smallest variation in temperature
throughout the year? (Hint: Use Google to find their locations)
e. Los Angeles, CA
6. Which two layers of the atmosphere have temperature warming with height?
a. Stratosphere and thermosphere
7. True or False: The global average surface air temperature is 59F. True
8. From the list below, select the gas which is NOT a trace gas in the Earth's
atmosphere.
a. Nitrogen
9. Which city would you expect to have the largest yearly range in air
temperature?
City A: 5S
City B: 15N
City C: 39N
City D: 60N
a. City D
10. True or False: Right now, the Sun is not shining on the North Pole.
False


EC Temperature
1.If the temperature outside is 100F, what is the equivalent temperature in
Celsius? 38C
2. In which layer of the atmosphere is the "ozone layer" found? Stratosphere
3. What is significant about the temperature of -40C?At this temperature, both
the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales match.
4. In these two layers of the atmosphere, the air temperature decreases with
increasing altitude. Troposphere and Mesosphere
5. The troposphere is the layer of the atmosphere that is closest to the Earth. This
layer contains all of the world's weather and the air temperature within this layer
decreases with height.

True or False: The depth of the troposphere is greatest over the tropics and least
over the polar regions. True




Pressure
1. Why is the surface pressure always lower in Denver, CO when compared to
New York City, NY?
a. Denver is roughly 1 mile above sea level while New York City is at sea level
and because pressure decreases rapidly with height, Denver will always have
lower surface pressure.

2.

Examine the map below that shows mean sea-level pressure. The white lines are
isobars, which represent lines of constant pressure. Within which state would you
expect the fastest winds given the behavior of the isobars on this map?
New Mexico

3. If it is midwinter in Chicago, IL and the surface pressure falls to 990 mb, what
type of general weather conditions would you expect?
Cloudy skies with precipitation and generally inclement weather

4. What would the air pressure be at an altitude where 50 percent of the
atmospheric mass is above you and 50 percent is below you?
~ 500 mb

5. If you were standing at sea level and you held out your hand, how much would
atmosphere weigh on one square inch of your hand?
approximately 15 lbs

6. Which of the following represents standard sea-level pressure?
1013.25 mb

7. The lowest recorded sea-level pressure was measured in a typhoon.
True

8. If a large hurricane was approaching your location, would you expect the
readings on your barometer to increase or decrease as the hurricane got closer and
closer?
Decrease

9. Which of the following cities would have the highest measured air pressure?

Miami, FL (1 meter in elevation)
Champaign, IL (293 meters in elevation)
Albuquerque, MN (1490 meters in elevation)
Lake Tahoe, CA (1897 meters in elevation)
Pikes Peak, CO (4300 meters in elevation)
Miami, FL

10. True or False: On days that it is really windy, the pressure gradient is large.
True


EC Pressure

1. At which of the following locations would you measure the lowest air
pressure? Top of Mt. Everest (29,028 ft)
2. Does the air temperature increase or decrease with altitude in the
stratosphere? Increase
3. How much does the air weigh within a column that is 1 square inch in area
that extends from sea level all the way to the top of the atmosphere? 14.7
lbs
4. If the surface air pressure is 1000 mb and the pressure at the top of the
atmosphere (75 km) is 0 mb, at what altitude would I find half of the
atmosphere air pressure? At 5.5 km the atmospheric pressure is equal to
500mb which is half of the total air pressure. The correct answer is: 5.5
km
5. What is the name of the instrument used to measure air pressure?
Barometer

Water
1. True or False: Water is the only substance in the atmosphere that naturally
exists in all three phases (solid, liquid and gas). True
2. Which phase of water (solid, liquid or gas) does water have its highest
density? Liquid
3. In which of the following phase changes is heat released during the phase
change? condensation
4. As the sun rises and the air temperature increases, what typically happens
to the relative humidity? (Assume the dewpoint temperature remains
constant.) it will decrease
5. True or False: Evaporation is a cooling process. True
6. Given the temperatures and dew point temperatures for the following four
cities, which city has the highest saturation vapor pressure?
New York City, NY: Temperature = 66F, Dewpoint Temperature = 53F
Nashville, TN: Temperature =81F, Dewpoint Temperature = 68F
Rapid City, SD: Temperature = 34F, Dewpoint Temperature = 33F
Tampa, FL: Temperature = 98F, Dewpoint Temperature = 63F
7. Given the temperatures and dew point temperatures for the following four
cities, which city has the highest relative humidity?
New York City, NY: Temperature = 66F, Dewpoint Temperature = 53F
Nashville, TN: Temperature =81F, Dewpoint Temperature = 68F
Rapid City, SD: Temperature = 34F, Dewpoint Temperature = 33F
Tampa, FL: Temperature = 98F, Dewpoint Temperature = 63F
8. On a summer day in Las Vegas, NV the temperature reached 105F with a
dew point temperature of 29F. Across the country in Miami, FL the
temperature also reached 105F with a dew point temperature of 72F. True
or False: It would be much easier to stay cool by sweating in Las Vegas
than in Tampa. True
9. Why does turning on the car's defroster remove fog from the windshield? b.
The warm air from the vents increases the saturation vapor pressure of
the air in the car while the dry air decreases the vapor pressure. Both
process work to lower the relative humidity.
10. Which of the following statements is not true about the relative humidity.
B. a location with a high air temperature must have a high relative
humidity.



Soundings
1. If it is 10AM in Champaign, IL during Central Standard Time, what time is
it in UTC? (Remember UTC uses a 24 hour clock) 16 UTC
2. How many time zones are there is the continental US (excluding Hawaii
and Alaska)?4
3. Which of the following is not true about rawinsondes (weather balloons)?
They are launched twixe daily at noon and midnight local time
4. Within what layer of the atmosphere does the rawinsonde (weather balloon)
primarily measure the vertical profile of temperature, dew point
temperature, pressure, and winds?troposphere
5. Below is a sounding that shows rawinsonde data collected in Lincoln, IL.
What is the surface dew point temperature in Lincoln, IL at the weather
balloon launch site? 12C


6. Below is a sounding that shows rawinsonde data collected in Lincoln, IL.
What is the surface air pressure in Lincoln, IL at the weather balloon launch
site? 975 mb

7. Below is a sounding that shows rawinsonde data collected in Lincoln, IL.
What is the wind speed at 600 mb over Lincoln, IL? 50 kts


8. Below is a sounding that shows rawinsonde data collected in
Lincoln, IL. What is the fastest wind observed by this
rawinsonde? 95 kts

9. Below is a sounding that shows rawinsonde data collected in Lincoln, IL.
Between which two pressure levels did this balloon pass through a cloud?
This rainsonde did not pass through a cloud

10. Below is a sounding that shows rawinsonde data collected in Lincoln, IL.
At what pressure level would you find the tropopause on this sounding?
250 mb





Radar and Satellite
1. Below is an image that shows the locations of all satellite currently in orbit.
In what type of orbit are the satellites highlighted with arrows that form a
ring around the middle of the Earth? Geostationary Orbit

2. Examine the image below. Why is the left hand side of this image dark?
Sun has yet to rise on the western half of this image

3. Check out the satellite images of the Earth on Page 39 in Figure 2.16. Which of
the following is not true about the satellites that took these images? All of these
images are made using visible satellite channels
4. If a cloud appears bright white on an infrared satellite image (indicating that it is
very cold), where is it likely located in the troposphere? In the upper levels of the
troposphere (like thich, cumulonimbus thunderstorm cloud)
5. True or False: An object that has a high albedo will appear bright on a visible
image. True
6. Which weather product would you use to estimate how much precipitation is
falling from a thunderstorm? Radar reflectivity image
7. Which of the following two variables is the strength of the radar echo
proportional to?the size and number of raindrops
8. Which of the following is not something the NEXRAD radar system currently
measures? Cloud top temperature
9. Below are two images of a supercell thunderstorm taken by radar at the same
time. One the left is a radar reflectivity image and on the right is a radial velocity
image. Supercell thunderstorms rotate violently and frequently produce tornadoes.
Using the images below, what direction is this storm rotating? (Focus on the white
circle and pay attention to the location of the radar.) counter clockwise


10. If a radar were to measure a radar reflectivity value of 47 dBZ from a storm
that remained stationary over a location for 3 hours, how much precipitation
would have fallen from this storm in inches? (Hint: Use Fig 2.9 on page 27 in the
4th edition of the textbook, or this chart is in the video lectures.)
3.9