About This Quiz
Your blue-sky picnic seemed like a perfect moment. But seemingly out of nowhere, a hulking black supercell surged into view, blocking the sun and sending your family and friends running for cover. Our planet’s weather is a finicky thing, and storms are common in many regions. In this lightning-slashed quiz, do you really know much about Earth’s storms?
Thunderstorms are among the most common types of storms. Every minute of every day, thunderstorms are active all around the planet, bringing with them rain, winds, lightning, and all of the potential challenges, like tornadoes, flooding, property destruction and death. Do you know anything about how thunderstorms form?
But thunderstorms are child’s play compared to hurricanes and typhoons. These gargantuan storms don’t just wreck barns and villages, they can wipe out entire coastal regions.
There are a lot of other storm-related phenomena, too, from gustnadoes to straight-line winds and more. Hold onto your hat for this storm quiz!
Hurricanes begin over ocean waters. They develop thanks to warm, moist air that begins to rotate … and may turn into a monstrous storm.
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Category 5 hurricanes are extremely large and dangerous. These storms have sustained winds of nearly 160 mph, making them some of the most destructive storms on Earth.
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Thunderstorms are predictable in some ways. One of those ways? They need warm, moist air to form, which is why in the U.S. these storms are common in summertime.
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Hurricanes are known for their winds, but also for their storm surge. They are a lot like tsunamis, a wall of water that rushes inland, sweeping away structures and people with ease.
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Cumulonimbus clouds grow like mushrooms in the sky during major thunderstorms. The tallest may exceed well over 10 miles in height.
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Hurricanes like warm weather. Ocean surface temperatures must be at least 79 degrees Fahrenheit, at which point these cyclones may begin to form.
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Extremely powerful thunderstorms are called supercells. These massive storms have a distinctive rotation to them, and they can unleash destructive fury upon the land.
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Tropical cyclones that form in the Atlantic are called hurricanes. Many hurricanes have come ashore in America in recent years, from the upper East Coast to the Gulf of Mexico.
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Black blizzards were common during the Dust Bowl years. It means fierce winds are blowing clouds of dirt across the landscape.
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In wintertime, high winds can hurl snow from the ground at high speeds, creating low visibility. In cold temperatures, these ground blizzards can disorient and kill the unprepared.
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In 1925, the "Tri-State Tornado" whirled through Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, at a distance of more than 300 miles. About 695 people died and more than 2,000 were hurt.
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They're relatively rare, but thunderstorms may produce gustnados, whipping vortexes that can cause serious harm. The worst ones may have the force of an EF-1 tornado.
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Thunderstorms are common, and persistent. At any given time there are about 2,000 of them pummelling the Earth.
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The Earth's spin causes the so-called Corioles force, which is weakest at the equator. There, the forces of hurricanes can gather unabated, creating giant storms that travel long distances.
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Dust devils are a bit like small tornadoes, but they can happen on storm-free, sunny days. And although most are just a nuisance, they can sometimes be frightening … and deadly.
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The Fujita scale denotes the power of a specific tornado. F1 tornadoes are pretty weak; F5 tornadoes can lay waste even to fortified structures.
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A haboob is a terrible dust storm that's carried along by a weather front. The dust might be so thick that it coats everything in its path.
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There's a reason they are called "monster" storms. Average hurricanes can be 300 miles wide, with whipping winds and rampaging storm surge.
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Mediterranean nations often witness sirocco winds in the summertime. These ferocious winds originate in the Sahara and whip up awful dust that can cause health issues.
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Updrafts are gusting columns of air that rush up through the atmosphere. Thunderstorms often feature powerful updrafts.
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In the right conditions, updrafts scream through the atmosphere. They can routinely blast past 100 mph.
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The Joplin tornado ravaged this Missouri town. The enormously powerful funnel cloud was about 1 mile wide, tearing apart buildings as if they were made of straw.
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Updrafts cycle hailstones up and down in the sky, often adding more and more heft. Some hailstones become bigger than baseballs and can destroy property.
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Bangladesh's location and weather make it very susceptible to tornados. The country has suffered -- at minimum -- 19 tornadoes that have each killed at least 100 people.
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Hurricane eyes are a surreally calm place amidst major destruction. The eye can be anywhere from 20 to 40 miles wide.
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Because warm, wet air is a necessary variable for thunderstorms, these storms most often form in the mid-latitudes. Air from the Gulf of Mexico often sparks severe thunderstroms on America's plains.
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Because of the Coriolis force, hurricane spin in different directions depending on their location. In the Southern Hemisphere, they're clockwise; in the Northern Hemisphere, it's the other way around.
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Commence nightmares. Not only was the Tri-State Tornado huge and powerful, but it was also the fastest-moving F5 tornado ever, hitting speeds of 73 mph.
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The vast majority of thunderstorms are pretty harmless. They bloom and rain for about an hour, and then vanish in the skies above.
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Typhoon Tip was more powerful than any hurricane ever recorded. Its high winds stretched for nearly 1,400 miles -- twice as big as the previous record (Typhoon Marge).
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The Great Storm of 1703 was a huge cyclone that smashed into London. Thousands of structures were destroyed and perhaps 15,000 people perished.
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Even with all of our modern tools, hurricane paths remain hard to predict. Experienced forecasters frantically prepare civilians for a wide range of landfall areas.
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The eye itself is calm. The eye wall? Not so much. This part of the hurricane can have crazy thick clouds and sheets of rain that cause tremendous flooding.
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Supercells are the atomic bombs of thunderstorms. Their immense power can blossom in just minutes, spitting out lightning and tornadoes with terrific ferocity.
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Supercells can last for hours. They might drift across more than one state, triggering flooding, spawning tornadoes, and generally scaring people half to death.
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