exercise 1.1 geography overview

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Name: _____________________________________________ Class: ____________ Date: ____________

Exercise 1.1 Geography Overview

Imagine hearing about a hazardous weather event with no reference to the location where it happened! Or worseyet, hearing the location and not knowing where it is! Students of hazardous weather must have a basic knowledgeof geography. Test your knowledge of geography by completing questions 1 through 8 on the map below.

1. Draw a line along the crest of the Rocky Mountains and label it “Rockies.”

2. Draw a second line along the crest of the Sierra Nevada and label it “Sierras.”

3. Draw a third line along the Cascade Range and label it “Cascades.”

4. Draw a fourth line along the Appalachian Mountains and label it “Appalachians.”

5. Label the Atlantic Coastal Plain (ACP) and the Great Plains (GP).

6. Label the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior.

7. Label the Pacific Ocean (PO), the Atlantic Ocean (AO), and the Gulf of Mexico (GoM).

8. Identify the following states: Pennsylvania (PA), Missouri (MO), South Carolina (SC), Colorado (CO),Nebraska (NE), Oregon (OR), Alabama (AL), and Arizona (AZ).

Rauber et al_Severe Weather03E_PAK01_89183_EX01.pdf 4/29/08 1:37 PM

Copyright 2008 Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company

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Name: _____________________________________________ Class: ____________ Date: ____________

Exercise 1.2 Atmospheric Temperature

As a birthday gift you receive a mercury thermometer from your long lost Aunt who has been living in Europe forthe past 20 years. As such, the units are in Celsius. Convert the temperatures to degrees Fahrenheit so you andyour friends can use it more easily.

Match the severe weather events with the range of temperatures your thermometer would indicate during thesestorms.

–20°C to –30°C0°C20°C to 30°C30°C to 40°C

TemperatureRange

(a) ____________ Heat waves (extreme heat) in Texas

(b) ____________ Cold wave (extreme cold) in North Dakota

(c) ____________ Temperature range during severe thunderstorms in Iowa during July

(d) ____________ Freezing rain event in Arkansas



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Name: _____________________________________________ Class: ____________ Date: ____________

Exercise 1.3 Atmospheric Pressure

1. The diagram illustrates a side view of topography of the U.S. from west to east. Match the five values of sta-tion pressure to the blanks on the diagram where that value is found.

Station pressure values:1013.25 mb 993 mb 850 mb 450 mb 300 mb

30,000 ft

20,000 ft

10,000 ft

Alt

itud

e

2. Using the completed diagram above, plot the change of pressure with altitude on the graph below.

3. Describe how the value of station pressure decreases with an increase in altitude on the graph. Do you thinkthis is always true? Why or why not?



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Name: _____________________________________________ Class: ____________ Date: ____________

Exercise 1.4 Moisture in the Atmosphere

The following air temperature (T) and dew point temperature (Td) values were reported at cities across the UnitedStates in late spring. Using this data, which city has the . . .

(a) . . . highest air temperature? ____________________________________________________

(b) . . . highest dew point temperature? ____________________________________________________

(c) . . . highest saturation vapor pressure? ____________________________________________________

(d) . . . highest vapor pressure? ____________________________________________________

(e) . . . highest relative humidity? ____________________________________________________

(f) . . . lowest temperature? ____________________________________________________

(g) . . . lowest dewpoint temperature? ____________________________________________________

(h) . . . lowest saturation vapor pressure? ____________________________________________________

(i) . . . lowest vapor pressure? ____________________________________________________

(j) . . . lowest relative humidity? ____________________________________________________

(k) Saturation vapor pressure is a function of (related to) which weather variable?

_______________________________________________________________________________________

(l) Vapor pressure is a function of (related to) which weather variable?

_______________________________________________________________________________________

(m) How can the city with a high relative humidity have so little moisture in the air?

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Detroit, MI Nashville, TN Dallas, TX Tucson, AZ Bismark, SD

T 32 50 80 105 31

Td 19 40 60 38 28



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Name: _____________________________________________ Class: ____________ Date: ____________

Exercise 1.5 Latent Heat

Phase changes of water (conversions between ice, liquid water, and water vapor) occur constantly in Earth’satmosphere. Heat is either released into the atmosphere (heating the air) or extracted from the atmosphere (cool-ing the air) during phase changes. In the exercises below insert the appropriate letters to indicate the correct phasechange and whether the atmosphere would be heated or cooled as a result of the phase change.

V (vapor) V (vapor)L (liquid) L (liquid) H (heating)

I (ice) I (ice) C (cooling)

1. During evaporation: ______________ converts to ______________ which leads to ______________ of the air.

2. During melting: ______________ converts to ______________ which leads to ______________ of the air.

3. During condensation: ______________ converts to ______________ which leads to ______________ of the air.

4. During deposition: ______________ converts to ______________ which leads to ______________ of the air.

5. During sublimation: ______________ converts to ______________ which leads to ______________ of the air.

6. During freezing: ______________ converts to ______________ which leads to ______________ of the air.

7. Which of the six processes listed above releases the largest amount of heat to the atmosphere?

8. Which of the six processes extracts the most heat from the atmosphere?

9. What types of particles are clouds composed of?

10. What phase changes can occur during cloud formation?

11. During cloud formation, do changes of phase warm or cool the surrounding atmosphere? Why?



exercise 1.1 geography overview

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