Chapter 19 Weather Patterns and Severe Storms
Review Questions - Answers
1. Marquette Michigan is south of the Great Lakes, so the air
coming across the lakes picks up heat and moisture from the lakes
which is deposited near the south shore of the lakes.
b. If you look at geologic contour map of West Virginia, you can
see that the Appalachian mountains are located just east of this
snow belt. This is an foothill region where the air is forced
higher thereby causing it to cool and for rain or snow to fall.
2. During the winter the maritime polar air mass (mp) has its
temperature moderated by traveling over the ocean for a long
distance. Therefore the oontinental polar (CP) air mass would be
colder.
3. Rain long foretold, long last. This means that there is a
large scale system that has been monitored for days. You would
expect that trend to continue. Short notice, soon past. This
refers to a system that only existed for a short while. This
would be a small scale event which wouldn't last very long.
4. Except for some local jargon where "Cyclone" refers to a
tornado, you shouldn't be that worried about a cyclone
approaching as it is a large scale low pressure system which
will probably cause rain for several days, but may or may not
have severe weather associated with it. Another type of cyclone
is the hurricane. If this is what is being referred to, you
should be oncerned and make plans according to its strength and
expected landfall.
5. a) City A would have a NW wind, City B would have a south
wind, City C would have a southeast wind.
b) City A would have MP or CP air mass, City B would have MT air
mass, and City C would have maritime polar.
c) The cold front is near city A, The occluded front is south of
the Low (L symbol), The warm front is between cities B and C.
d) The pressure is rising in city A, the pressure is dropping in
city C.
e) City B is warmest, City A is coldest.
6. The NexRAD radars are more sensitive than the older radars and
therefore detect more tornadoes. Also the population has
increased, so more people are available to spot the tornadoes.
7. a) Hurriane Andrew was a class 4 storm. Hurricane Camille
was a class 5 storm. and Hurricane Katrina was a class 5 storm,
but it was after Hurricane Andrew. If this hurriane Gaston were
the the first class 5 to hit the U. S. after Hurricane Andrew,
then the total would be 2: hurricane Camille and hurricane Gaston
in 2016.
b. Hurricane Gaston would start off very likely as a cold core
low pressure system, would develop into a warm core low and then
start to pickup speed and produce more rainfall. It would have
been named as a tropical storm at wind speeds between 38 and 74
miles/hour.
c. Gaston is forecast to hit east of Houston so Houston should
not bare the brunt of the storm, but nevertheless should prepare
for the storm if authorities give warnings. The heaviest
rainfall ever received in Houston was when a tropical storm took
this path (40 inches of rain in 48 hours from tropical storm
Claudette in 1979. So you should always be aware that the
unexpected can happen.
d. Tornadoes and heavy rain.
8. a) The winds were higher on thursday before the storm made
landfall.
b) It moved about 350 miles in 24 hours. 14.6 miles/hour.