College of DuPage Meteorology
Analysis and Forecasting
Satellite Lab
For questions 9-20, use the satellite loops and images found at
http://weather.cod.edu/labs/satellitelab/ . The questions on this sheet
correlate to the questions on that webpage.
Which satellite would be best for viewing the following?
For all questions, assume we are talking about daytime
1) Fair Weather Cumulus
a) Visible b) Infrared
2) Fog
a) Visible
b) Infrared
c) Water Vapor
c) Water Vapor
d) All of the above
d) a and b
3) Overshooting Tops
a) Visible
b) Infrared
c) Water Vapor
d) b and c
4) General longwave pattern, shortwave troughs, etc.
a) Visible
b) Infrared
c) Water Vapor
d) All of the above
5) Cooling cloud tops on a thunderstorm
a) Visible
b) Infrared
c) Water Vapor
d) All of the above
6) Clear Skies
a) Visible
b) Infrared
c) Water Vapor
d) all of the above
7) Mesoscale/Outflow Boundaries
a) Visible
b) Infrared
c) Water Vapor
d) All of the above
8) MCC’s (Mesoscale Convective Complexes)
a) Visible
b) Infrared
c) Water Vapor
d) All of the above
9) Looking at pic 1 (IR) and pic 2 (vis). Over northeastern Illinois, what type of
clouds are we likely looking at?
a) Cirrus
b) Mid-level stratus (above 10,000 feet)
c) Thunderstorms
d) Low level stratus and maybe fog
10) Running the water vapor loop what do you notice about the area near Baja
California (Mexico) and extending westward into the Pacific?
a) The air is very moist.
b) The air mass is very dry
c) The air, on the large scale, is sinking (subsidence)
d) a and c
e) b and c
11) Running the next loop, the visible loop you see a boundary moving southward
through Texas and Oklahoma. Cloud features continue to form on the north side of
this boundary. What is likely forming?
a) Surface based thunderstorms
b) High based thunderstorms
c) Cirrus
d) Elevated (not surface based) thunderstorms
e) Fog and stratus.
12) What is the predominant feature found in this loop?
a) Cold front
b) Warm front
c) Outflow boundary
d) Lake breeze
13) You will see on this loop an area of persistant clouds hugging the coast of
California, and in some cases moving onto land. What is the name of this feature,?
a) Coastal Intrusion
b) Pacific Connection
c) Inversion Stratus Belt
d) California Pacific Ocean Fog
e) Marine Layer
14) Running this loop, the middle part of the country goes from a milky white color
to a red color. What is this a result of?
a) Moisture advection
b) Daytime heating
c) Warm advection
d) Fog and stratus
e) A and D
15) Running the loop, this spinning low would be best described as
a) Closed and cut off
b) Progressive
c) Tropical
d) an area of calm weather
e) A and D
16) Running the loop you will see an area of nearly stationary cold tops (noted in
green) over Alberta Canada. What is this feature, likely?
a) Area of stratus clouds and fog
b) Thunderstorms
c) Cirrus and mid level clouds
d) Shortwave trough
e) Incorrect data
17) Using the same loop as in number 16, what are the upper level winds (jet
stream) over Illinois?
a) Northeasterly
b) Northwesterly
c) Southwesterly
d) Southeasterly
e) Cannot be determined by using this type of satellite
18) Running the loop (same loop as for number’s 16 and 17). The low off the coast
of California is starting to move eastward (this is evident by the moisture channel to
the east of the upper low, marked by the bright whites and blue colors moving from
California to Arizona). What is the cause of this?
a) The trough in the Pacific Northwest is acting as a kicker
b) The trough in the Pacific Northwest is acting as a digger
c) The upper low, itself, is digging
d) The east coast trough is weakening
19) Running both the Vis and IR loops, the spot in central MN is an area of
thunderstorms. What makes one realize these are likely thunderstorms?
a) Overshooting tops are evident
b) It is stationary
c) It has a hook echo
d) The cloud tops are cooling rapidly
e) a and d
20) Using the IR (enhanced) loop from number 19, one can assume these
thunderstorms are strengthening.
a) True
b) False
c) Can’t determine using this type of satellite
21) The cold front is approaching Ohio and Kentucky
a) True
b) False
22) Clouds over the Great Lakes region are “high clouds”
a) True
b) False
23) The system over the eastern US is an occluded system
a) True
b) False
24) Cumulus is forming in the dry intrusion in Florida
a) True
b) False
25) The clouds over the Great Lakes region can be called “backlash clouds” (not
backwash, yuck!)
a) True
b) False