Question 1

What instrument is used to measure atmospheric pressure?

Accepted Answer

Barometer. Barometers were first developed in the 17th century by Evangelista Torricelli, who used a column of mercury to show air pressure.

Question 2

In what unit, named after a Swedish astronomer, is temperature commonly measured across much of the world, with water freezing at zero?

Accepted Answer

Celsius. Anders Celsius, the Swedish astronomer behind the scale, originally set it upside down, with boiling at zero and freezing at the top.

Question 3

What is the name for a violent tropical storm in the Atlantic that is called a typhoon in the western Pacific?

Accepted Answer

Hurricane. Hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones are all the same kind of storm, with the name depending on the ocean where it forms.

Question 4

What is the name of the instrument, often shaped like a cockerel on a rooftop, that shows which way the wind is blowing?

Accepted Answer

Weather vane. Many weather vanes are shaped like cockerels, which is why they are also known as weathercocks.

Question 5

What is the name of the boundary between a mass of warm air and a mass of cold air, a term borrowed from the First World War?

Accepted Answer

Front. Norwegian meteorologists in Bergen coined the term front because they saw warm and cold air masses clashing like opposing armies.

Question 6

What name is given to a high-altitude, fast-flowing current of air that strongly influences weather in the UK and across the North Atlantic?

Accepted Answer

Jet stream. The position of the jet stream often decides whether Britain gets a wet, windy spell or settled sunny weather.

Question 7

What term describes the temperature at which air becomes saturated and water vapour begins to condense into dew?

Accepted Answer

Dew point. When the air temperature falls to the dew point, moisture condenses onto cool surfaces as dew or into the droplets that form fog.

Question 8

What is the name of the hot, dry, dust-laden wind that blows from the Sahara across the Mediterranean, particularly towards Italy?

Accepted Answer

Sirocco. The sirocco carries Saharan dust northwards and can leave a layer of red sand on cars across southern Italy.

Question 9

What is the name of the scale, introduced in the US in 2007, that rates tornado intensity from EF0 to EF5 based on damage?

Accepted Answer

Enhanced Fujita scale. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates tornadoes by the damage they cause, which is why a tornado's rating is often assigned only after a survey of the wreckage.

Question 10

The loss of which ship in an October 1859 storm inspired Robert FitzRoy to develop charts for what he called forecasting the weather?

Accepted Answer

Royal Charter. FitzRoy's charts, inspired by the Royal Charter storm of October 1859, led him to coin the term 'weather forecast'.

🧠 Weather Quiz

Weather Quiz — Questions and Answers

Weather

1easyWhat instrument is used to measure atmospheric pressure?

2easyIn what unit, named after a Swedish astronomer, is temperature commonly measured across much of the world, with water freezing at zero?

3easyWhat is the name for a violent tropical storm in the Atlantic that is called a typhoon in the western Pacific?

4easyWhat is the name of the instrument, often shaped like a cockerel on a rooftop, that shows which way the wind is blowing?

5mediumWhat is the name of the boundary between a mass of warm air and a mass of cold air, a term borrowed from the First World War?

6mediumWhat name is given to a high-altitude, fast-flowing current of air that strongly influences weather in the UK and across the North Atlantic?

7mediumWhat term describes the temperature at which air becomes saturated and water vapour begins to condense into dew?

8mediumWhat is the name of the hot, dry, dust-laden wind that blows from the Sahara across the Mediterranean, particularly towards Italy?

9hardWhat is the name of the scale, introduced in the US in 2007, that rates tornado intensity from EF0 to EF5 based on damage?

10hardThe loss of which ship in an October 1859 storm inspired Robert FitzRoy to develop charts for what he called forecasting the weather?

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