What is the sky up to?
A forecast of ten fairly friendly questions.
Ten questions, with the answers explained. Try them in your head, then open each answer when you're ready.
Play this quiz →QUESTION 1 / 10
What instrument measures air pressure?
- Thermometer
- Anemometer
- Rain gauge
- Barometer
Show answer & explanation+
Barometer
A barometer measures atmospheric pressure. Changes in pressure can help forecast weather.
QUESTION 2 / 10
What instrument measures wind speed?
- Anemometer
- Hygrometer
- Compass
- Seismometer
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Anemometer
An anemometer measures wind speed; a wind vane shows direction.
QUESTION 3 / 10
What instrument measures humidity?
- Hygrometer
- Barometer
- Altimeter
- Odometer
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Hygrometer
A hygrometer measures humidity, the amount of water vapor in the air.
QUESTION 4 / 10
What is thunder?
- Sound from rapidly expanding heated air
- Clouds colliding
- Rain hitting ice
- Wind scraping mountains
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Sound from rapidly expanding heated air
Lightning heats air very quickly. The resulting expansion produces the sound we hear as thunder.
QUESTION 5 / 10
What kind of precipitation consists of balls or lumps of ice?
- Drizzle
- Dew
- Hail
- Fog
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Hail
Hailstones grow in storm clouds as layers of water freeze around them.
QUESTION 6 / 10
What is fog made of near the ground?
- Tiny suspended water droplets
- Pure oxygen
- Loose snowflakes
- Smoke only
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Tiny suspended water droplets
Fog is a cloud at ground level, usually made of tiny liquid droplets.
QUESTION 7 / 10
What is the eye of a tropical cyclone?
- Its trail over land
- Its fastest outer wind band
- Its relatively calm center
- Its rainiest cloud edge
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Its relatively calm center
The eye is the relatively calm center, surrounded by the much more intense eyewall.
QUESTION 8 / 10
What is the name for a boundary where warm and cold air masses meet?
- A latitude line
- An ocean trench
- A weather front
- A solar flare
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A weather front
A front marks a boundary between air masses with different characteristics.
QUESTION 9 / 10
Which cloud type is most associated with thunderstorms?
- Cirrus
- Cirrostratus
- Cumulonimbus
- Fair-weather cumulus
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Cumulonimbus
Cumulonimbus clouds can tower high into the atmosphere and produce lightning and heavy rain.
QUESTION 10 / 10
What is dew?
- Salt left by waves
- Dust carried by wind
- Rain frozen in a cloud
- Water condensed on a cool surface
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Water condensed on a cool surface
Water vapor condenses as droplets on a surface cool enough for dew to form.