Weather Quiz

The weather we experience each day depends on a series of complex meteorological phenomena which scientists try to understand and explain to Canadians the best they can. But you do not need to be a scientist to learn interesting facts about these phenomena and better understand the weather that affects our daily lives. Simply visit the Introduction to Meteorology and Related Sciences pages, then test your knowledge of meteorological terms with our short quiz below.

Ready to start?

1. What is black ice?
   1. Thin ice on a fresh or salt water body which appears dark in colour because of its transparency.
   2. A mariner's term for a dreaded form of icing sometimes sufficiently heavy to capsize a small ship.
   3. Ice formed by rain or drizzle falling onto frozen surfaces; such transparent ice forming on roads is very hazardous.
   4. All of the above.
   
   
   
2. From which two-word combination does the word smog come?
   1. Smell and fog.
   2. Smother and fog.
   3. Smoke and fog.
   4. Smoke and bug.
   
   
   
3. What is wind chill?
   1. The temperature of the wind.
   2. What cold weather feels like at various combinations of low temperatures and high winds.
   3. Wind speed measured in km/h.
   4. All of the above.
   
   
   
4. What is Graupel?
   1. Snow pellets.
   2. A German word for ice pellets which are crisp, opaque and easily compressible.
   3. Soft hail.
   4. All of the above.
   
   
   
5. What is a heat island?
   1. Any of the islands situated between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn between the latitudes of 23° 27' north and 23° 27' south.
   2. A dome of warm and polluted air which covers an urban area and where the temperature is higher than in the vicinity.
   3. An island in the Pacific Ocean on which the average temperature is equal to or greater than 17 °C all year round.
   4. Sulphur rain causing a 5 °C rise in surface temperature.
   
   
   
6. A layer of soil or rock, at some depth beneath the surface, in which the temperature has been continuously below 0 °C for at least some years, is called:
   1. Everfrost.
   2. Permafrost.
   3. Deadland.
   4. Winterland.
   
   
   
7. What is an aurora?
   1. Ratio of the radiation reflected by the Earth, including its atmosphere, to the incident solar radiation.
   2. Name of the first female monkey to travel to the moon.
   3. Luminous phenomena, in the form of rays, arcs, bands, draperies, or corona in the high atmosphere (caused by charge particles from space), mainly at high latitudes.
   4. Specular reflection of the Sun's direct rays by a water surface.
   
   
   
8. A corona discharge is:
   1. Directed towards objects having a high surface electric field.
   2. The scientific term for lightning.
   3. Also called a St. Elmo's fire.
   4. None of the above.
   
   
   
9. Sublimation means:
   1. The transition of a substance from the solid phase directly to the vapour phase, or vice versa, without passing through the liquid phase.
   2. The transition of a substance from vegetable to mineral.
   3. The transition of a substance from or to the liquid phase, regardless of its present state.
   4. The transition of a substance from the vapour phase to the precipitation phase.
   
   
   
10. A veering wind is a change of wind direction occurring:
    1. From West to East.
    2. From South to North.
    3. Clock-wise in either hemisphere.
    4. Counter clock-wise in either hemisphere.

Note that all of the answers can be found in the Introduction to Meteorology and Related Sciences Glossary.

Answers: 1.d, 2.c, 3.b, 4.d, 5.b, 6.b, 7.c, 8.c, 9.a, 10.c

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