SCI 100 – Meteorology: Chapter 3 Focus
Questions and Topics to Study
Explain why the warmest time of day is usually in the afternoon, even though the sun’s rays are
most direct at (solar) noon.
Explain how radiational cooling at night produces a radiation temperature inversion (also known as
“radiation inversion”).
List and explain ideal conditions for the formation of a strong radiation inversion.
Ch 3 Focus, page 1 of 3
Chapter 3 Questions and Topics to Study (cont’d)
List and explain the four main “controls” that lead to variations in temperature from place-toplace. (Hint: see pages 69 to 73)
Explain why the daily (diurnal) temperature range is normally greater:
a) in drier regions than in humid regions.
b) on clear days than on cloudy days.
Why is the largest annual temperature range normally observed over continents away from large
bodies of water?
Ch 3 Focus, page 2 of 3
Chapter 3 Additional Key Terms and Concepts
Why are air temperatures at the surface taken at a height of 1.5 to 2 meters above the ground?
Why should thermometers be read in the shade or in an instrument shelter?
(See FOCUS ON AN OBSERVATION page 79)
Isotherm
Specific Heat
Wind-chill Index (also known as Wind-Chill Equivalent Temperature)
Ch 3 Focus, page 3 of 3