free weather trivia quiz questions and answers -
for pub quizzes, pub games, team games, learning and fun
This is a page from the Quizballs zone of the Businessballs
website. Quizballs provides free quiz questions and answers for trivia quizzes,
team games, pub quizzes, general knowledge, learning and amusement. Use the
quiz and questions and answers to suit your purposes, either as a stand-alone
quiz, or to cut and paste to make your own quizzes.
Quizballs accepts no liability for any arguments, lost bets, or
otherwise unfortunate consequences arising from any errors contained in these
quizzes although quite a lot of effort is made to ensure that questions are
clear and answers are correct. Please notify us
of any errors, or questions or answers requiring clarification.
These quizzes are free to use in pub quizzes, trivia quizzes,
organisational events and team-building, but are not to be sold or published,
which includes not posting them on other websites, thank you.
Below are the quiz answers. Here are the quiz questions without
answers.
quizballs 38 - free weather and climate quiz -
questions and answers for trivia quizzes and pub quizzes
Which one of these revolving weather systems is the smallest -
hurricane, typhoon, tropical cyclone, tornado? Tornado
Aside of the amusing reference popularized by Frank Zappa, what is
the usual cause of a large-scale 'yellow snow' weather effect seen in certain
parts of the world? Pollen
What is the line on a weather chart which joins points of equal
pressure? Isobar
What colour of a single rainbow is on the inside of the rainbow's
arc, given the generally defined seven-colour rainbow? Violet
Who invented the mercury thermometer? Daniel Gabriel Farenheit
Okta is a unit of measurement of what? Cloud cover
What common term refers to the amount of water vapour that is held in
the air? Humidity
Treasure Island author Robert Louis Stevenson's father was
responsible for what significant weather-related invention? The Stevenson
Screen
What shipping forecast area lies immediately South of Forties off the
British Isles? Dogger
What common term refers to the movement of air from a high pressure
to a low pressure zone? Wind
What is O3 (O followed by the number 3, usually shown in
sub-script)? Ozone
What wind speed limit applies for setting athletics sprinting and
jumping records? Two metres per second
What were all girls from 1953 to 1979, and thereafter alternating
boys and girls? Names of tropical storms or hurricanes
What is the circulating Atlantic ocean current which warms Western
Europe? The Gulf Stream
What's the more exotic name of the 'Northern Lights' visible under
certain conditions in the Northern Hemisphere night sky? Aurora Borealis
What is a haboob? A sandstorm
What is the childlike name given to the significant weather activity
linked to sea temperature rise in the Pacific Ocean? El Nino
What are the narrow bands of strong winds called which move around
the world between about six and twelve miles high? Jet Streams
What is the unit of measurement of wind speed? Knot
What is the 'ology' term for the study or science of the weather
(that's short-term weather systems and effects, not long-term climatology)?
Meteorology
What was the name of the 1992 hurricane storm which caused massive
damage to the Bahamas, Florida and Louisiana? Andrew
Towards which direction (North, East, South or West) is a rainbow
normally seen in the afternoon? East
What cloud term means 'sheet' or 'sheetlike' or 'layer'?
Stratus
(Aside from a back and a front) how many sides or points does every
snowflake have? Six
The 'Inter-tropical Convergence Zone', where the trade winds meet
near the equator to produce a band of relatively very still air, which can
strand sailing ships, is known more prosaically as what? The Doldrums
In the Northern hemisphere an area of low pressure produces what
wind direction? Anti-clockwise
What is the most common gas in the earth's atmosphere?
Nitrogen
What type of cloud is normally associated with thunderstorms?
Cumulonimbus
The heaviest recorded hailstones weighed (approximately) 25gms,
100gms, 500gms or 1kg? 1kg
What number does 'storm' equate to on the Beaufort Scale of wind
force? 10
What is minus 40 degrees Farenheit expressed as degrees Centigrade?
minus 40, the same (Thanks R Partis for this excellent question.)
Which one of these revolving weather systems is the smallest -
hurricane, typhoon, tropical cyclone, tornado? Tornado (a tornado is a
funnel of violently circulating air connected from the ground to a large storm
cloud. A tornado has a diameter of anything between a few metres and 2 miles in
extreme cases. Tornadoes generally travel no more than a few miles before
dissipating, and can occur in most parts of the world. Hurricanes, typhoons and
tropical cyclones are all terms from different parts of the world for a big
revolving tropical storm, typically several hundred miles wide, emanating from
the tropical ocean areas, and which incidentally can contain tornadoes when the
storm moves over land. Hurricane activity peaks when the difference between sea
temperature and upper atmospheric temperature is greatest, which to a certain
extent produces predictable repeating storm seasons according to the regions in
which they occur.)
Aside of the amusing reference popularized by Frank Zappa, what is
the usual cause of a large-scale 'yellow snow' weather effect seen in certain
parts of the world? Pollen (typically from cypress pine trees)
What is the line on a weather chart which joins points of equal
pressure? Isobar (the term first appeared around 1864, and is from the
Greek word isobares meaning 'of equal weight')
What colour of a single rainbow is on the inside of the rainbow's
arc, given the generally defined seven-colour rainbow? Violet (The
traditionally defined colours of the rainbow are red, orange, yellow, green,
blue, indigo, violet. A single rainbow displays these colours from red on the
outside of the arc to violet on the inside of the arc. In a double rainbow the
second outer rainbow displays the colours in reverse the order. A rainbow in
fact contains infinitely more than seven colour variations, but the seven
colour system is the most widely used, which can be traced back to Isaac
Newton's studies of prisms and light refraction in the 1670's. The seven-colour
system probably persists partly due to the mnemonic aids used to remember them,
notably 'Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain', or the more obscure 'Roy G
Biv'.)
Who invented the mercury thermometer? Daniel Gabriel Farenheit
(1714 - Farenheit was German but worked mostly in the Dutch Republic. Galileo
Galilei actually first devised the thermometer principle using water in
1593.)
Okta is a unit of measurement of what? Cloud cover (according
to the UN's weather and climate agency, the World Meteorological Organization,
an Okta is a "Fraction equal to one eighth of the celestial dome, used in the
coding of cloud amount." The scale is actually made of nine parts because there
is a zero, and ranges from 0 okta - clear sky, to 8 oktas - completely
overcast. The steps are typically interpreted as: 0-2 oktas are 'Fine', 3-5
oktas are 'Partly Cloudy', 6-7 oktas are 'Cloudy', and 8 is 'Overcast'. The
derivation - thanks P Lubbers - is related to Latin 'octo' meaning eight, as in
octopus and October, and more exactly the word okta is Greek for eight, and
'oktas' is Greek for 'a group of eight'.)
What common term refers to the amount of water vapour that is held in
the air? Humidity (Hotter air holds more moisture, or water vapour.
Water vapour is a 'greenhouse gas'. Greenhouse gases cause temperatures to rise
because they absorb energy. The hotter air holds still more moisture.)
Treasure Island author Robert Louis Stevenson's father was
responsible for what significant weather-related invention? The Stevenson
Screen (the strange white wooden box on legs for protecting weather
instruments and increasing the consistency of measurements)
What shipping forecast area lies immediately South of Forties off the
British Isles? Dogger (the full list is: Viking, North Utsire, South
Utsire, Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight, Humber,
Thames, Dover, Wight, Portland, Plymouth, Biscay, FitzRoy, Trafalgar, Sole,
Lundy, Fastnet, Irish Sea, Shannon, Rockall, Malin, Hebrides, Bailey, Fair
Isle, Faeroes, South-east Iceland)
What common term refers to the movement of air from a high pressure
to a low pressure zone? Wind (not surprisingly a very old word indeed,
first recorded in this form in AD725 in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, and
traceable along with similar sounding foreign equivalent words for wind back to
the earliest languages of European settlers)
What is O3 (O followed by the number 3, usually shown in
sub-script)? Ozone (also called activated oxygen, allotropic oxygen,
triatomic oxygen or pure air; ozone is a fascinating gas: it is created from
oxygen by ultraviolet radiation and thunderstorms; you can smell ozone by
sniffing the air close to a spark-marking gas oven lighter, which in a tiny way
replicates the ozone-creating effect of lightning in the atmosphere; it's a
powerful disinfectant; it can purify water and preserve fruit and vegetables;
it is refreshing in small doses and poisonous in large doses; it makes the sky
blue; and in a warm temperature it reverts back to oxygen, O2, after
just a few minutes)
What wind speed limit applies for setting athletics sprinting and
jumping records? Two metres per second (regardless of direction)
What were all girls from 1953 to 1979, and thereafter alternating
boys and girls? Names of tropical storms or hurricanes (as named by the
US National Hurricane Centre in Miami Florida, which administers the lists of
names to identify Atlantic tropical storms; names are English, Spanish or
French and used on a six year rotating basis, unless belonging to a paricularly
disasterous storm, in which case the name is removed from the list)
What is the circulating Atlantic ocean current which warms Western
Europe? The Gulf Stream (emanating from the Gulf of Mexico, and
responsible for giving Western Europe warmer weather than would likely be
experienced without the effect of the Gulf Stream. Climatologists continue to
debate whether the Gulf Stream will be affected by global warming - some say
that the Gulf Stream is threatened by melting ice from the North, with the
ironic effect of reducing temperatures in Western Europe, despite the warming
going on everywhere else in the world)
What's the more exotic name of the 'Northern Lights' visible under
certain conditions in the Northern Hemisphere night sky? Aurora Borealis
(the Southern Hemisphere equivalent is the Aurora Australis - both North and
South phenomena result from atoms colliding in the upper atmosphere, becoming
energised and then giving off their energy as light, the colour of which varies
according to the atomic gases and altitudes involved.)
What is a haboob? A sandstorm (a haboob is a big sandstorm,
most common in the Sahara and Arabian peninsula, but also occurring in Arizona,
typically following thunderstorms)
What is the childlike name given to the significant weather activity
linked to sea temperature rise in the Pacific Ocean? El Nino (properly
'Niño' and pronounced 'neenyo' - it means 'the little boy', or 'Christ
child', and causes severe weather of various sorts notably in South America and
the Western Pacific region) (thanks R Hannah)
What are the narrow bands of strong winds called which move around
the world between about six and twelve miles high? Jet Streams (Airlines
make use of jet streams to optimise travel times, although this has nothing to
do with the word jet in this context, which derives ultimately from the Latin
root jectare, to throw forth, which gave us the words project and projectile,
and came to English via the French jeter, to throw)
What is the unit of measurement of wind speed? Knot (1 knot
equals approximately 1.15 miles per hour - the word knot is derived from the
original method of measuring a vessel's speed though the water by counting over
a given time the number of spaced knots on a length of rope dragged over a
ship's stern by a specially shaped piece of wood on the end of the rope)
What is the 'ology' term for the study or science of the weather
(that's short-term weather systems and effects, not long-term climatology)?
Meteorology (from the Greek 'things high up' added to 'logos' meaning
knowledge)
What was the name of the 1992 hurricane storm which caused massive
damage to the Bahamas, Florida and Louisiana? Andrew (Until Katrina,
hurricane Andrew was the most destructive in US history, causing damage then
estimated at $26bn. Andrew was replaced by Alex in the rota of hurricane names)
Towards which direction (North, East, South or West) is a rainbow
normally seen in the afternoon? East (because sunlight is usually from
behind the viewer - so morning rainbows are normally in the West - sun rises in
the East and sets in the West)
What cloud term means 'sheet' or 'sheetlike' or 'layer'?
Stratus (aside from which, cirrus means 'fibre', and cumulus means
'heap', and these with stratus are the three main cloud types established by
London meteorologist Luke Howard when he set up the cloud name system published
in 1803 and still in use today, albeit slightly increased from his original
seven-cloud structure. It is said that when the World Meteorological
Organisation added the ninth cloud type, cumulonimbus, to the structure in 1896
this gave rise to the expression 'on cloud nine')
(Aside from a back and a front) how many sides or points does every
snowflake have? Six (and every snowflake is different, although how they
can be absolutely sure of that I really don't know..)
The 'Inter-tropical Convergence Zone', where the trade winds meet
near the equator to produce a band of relatively very still air, which can
strand sailing ships, is known more prosaically as what? The Doldrums
(the same convergence also creates heavy rainfall which on land is partly
responsible for the rain forests)
In the Northern hemisphere an area of low pressure produces what
wind direction? Anti-clockwise (and clockwise in the Southern
hemisphere. An area of low pressure - also called a depression or cyclone - is
typically associated with clouds and wet and stormy weather. An area of high
pressure - an anticyclone - is normally associated with fair dry weather and
blue skies. Wind direction around an anticyclone is clockwise in the Northern
hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the Southern hemisphere. Air movement, or
wind, is logically towards low pressure and away from high pressure, but the
rotation of the Earth causes the movement to spiral. This is known as the
Coriolis Effect, which forces the cyclone or anticyclone along a curved path,
and thus makes it spin.)
What is the most common gas in the earth's atmosphere?
Nitrogen (accounting for about 78%, followed by about 20% Oxygen, and
relatively far smaller amounts of other gases including Argon, Carbon Dioxide,
Neon, Methane, Helium, Ozone and water vapour)
What type of cloud is normally associated with thunderstorms?
Cumulonimbus (each towering cumulonimbus thundercloud takes an average
of about an hour to form and to dissipate, from start to finish, during which
it will dispense a maximum of about 30 minutes thunder and lightning -
according to the UK Met Office)
The heaviest recorded hailstones weighed (approximately) 25gms,
100gms, 500gms or 1kg? 1kg (that's one kilogram - among various reports
of unfeasibly large hailstones, the heaviest recorded - according to the UK Met
Office and Guinness Book of Records - are the 1kg hailstones that fell on
Gopalanj in Bangladesh on 14 April 1986 and killed 92 people. The heaviest
recorded hailstone in the UK was apparently 142gms, in Horsham West Sussex in
1958.)
What number does 'storm' equate to on the Beaufort Scale of wind
force? 10. The Beaufort Scale was published in 1805 by Irish
hydrographer (navigable waters expert) Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort but he was
not the first to devise such a scale. The UK Met Office has records of similar
definitions appearing on much earlier representations of wind force scales,
notably including the 'Table of Degrees' recorded in 1703 by writer and
adventurer Daniel Defoe, who is better known for his books Robinson Crusoe and
Moll Flanders.
Here is the Beaufort Scale:
0 - calm 1 - light air 2 -
light breeze 3 - gentle breeze 4 - moderate wind 5 - fresh wind
6 - strong wind 7 - very strong wind or near gale 8 - gale 9 -
severe gale 10 - storm 11 - severe storm or violent storm 12 -
hurricane
What is minus 40 degrees Farenheit expressed as degrees Centigrade?
minus 40, the same (Thanks R Partis for this excellent question.) To
convert Farenheit to Centigrade first subtract 32, then multiply by 5 and
divide by 9. To convert Centigrade to Farenheit, apply the formula in reverse,
i.e., divide by 5, multiply by 9, then add 32.
quizballs 38 - free quiz
questions only for
trivia quizzes and pub quizzes
and lots more free materials for learning and fun on the
main businessballs
website, if you are not already there.
The use of this material is free provided copyright (see below)
is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the www.businessballs.com
website. This material may not be sold, or published in any form. Disclaimer:
Reliance on information, material, advice, or other linked or recommended
resources, received from Alan Chapman, shall be at your sole risk, and Alan
Chapman assumes no responsibility for any errors, omissions, or damages
arising. Users of this website are encouraged to confirm information received
with other sources, and to seek local qualified advice if embarking on any
actions that could carry personal or organisational liabilities. Managing
people and relationships are sensitive activities; the free material and advice
available via this website do not provide all necessary safeguards and checks.
Please retain this notice on all copies.