A History of Weather Trivia Quiz

Answer: Study of water

Aristotle's text was the primary authority on weather theory in Western civilization for nearly 2,000 years. He discussed winds and weather, atmospheric events, cosmic occurrences, and the hydrologic cycle.

This is where he described the basic process of the water cycle. The sun, he noted, heats water and makes vapor that rises upward. He correctly observed that the 'fresh' water that goes upward leaves behind salt when the water is oceanic. The vapor then makes clouds. He surmised that it was the colder conditions that caused the vapor to condense into the clouds. Lastly, he pointed out that the compression of the cloud made the water fall back to earth as rain or snow, thus completing the cycle.

Answer: Barometer

Knowing the atmospheric pressure helps to predict short-term weather conditions. The barometer, invented by Torricelli, was a tube filled with mercury that was placed upside-down in a basin of mercury. As the overall mercury level 'pushed' against the air pressure, the vacuum space in the tube changed. This allowed a person to judge the upcoming weather. The barometers have changed over the years, but the principle remains the same.

Falling pressure in the barometer means a low-pressure system is coming which could bring a chance of rain or snow. If the barometer pressure is falling quickly, a storm may be brewing. If the barometer pressure is rising, it means a high-pressure system is coming which generally means clear skies and nice weather.

Answer: Fahrenheit scale

Early instruments, called thermoscopes, could only indicate relative changes in heat (e.g. it is hotter) without a numerical scale. Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, however, created a mercury-in-glass thermometer in 1714. Years later, he also introduced the Fahrenheit scale (named after himself).

In this, he created three fixed points. The first was zero degrees which was the lowest temperature he could get in his laboratory. The next was 32 degrees which is the point at which water froze. The third was 96 degrees which was the temperature of a human body. After his death, it was discovered water boiled at 212 degrees and the scale was refined.

Answer: Trade winds

The trade winds are winds that blow east to west around the equator which historically helped sailors during their trade routes. The weather condition was explained by George Hadley. He said that intense air at the equator--30° latitude (north and south)--caues the air to rise. As the warm, moist air ascends, it cools and condenses, resulting in heavy rainfall characteristic of tropical rainforests.

The air then flows toward its respective poles, either North or South. By the time it reaches the 30 degree latittude toward the pole, it sinks back toward the earth. It then flows back toward the equator and is deflected by the earth's rotation causing it to go from east to west. This explained the trade winds which not only aided sailors, but played a crucial role in regulating global climate and weather patterns.

Answer: Telegraph

In 1859, there was a terrible storm off the coast of Wales that caused shipwrecks and the deaths of hundreds of people. Robert FitzRoy wanted to prevent this in the future. Using the new and ever expanding telegraph network, he established a system where observers at various coastal stations would send daily weather observations to him in London.

He would then put this 'real time' data on charts, study it, and alert various ports if a storm was brewing. The first official storm warning was issued on February 6, 1861 using this system. It was a huge success and soon these weather forecasts (as he coined it) were even in newspapers.

Answer: Cyclone

The Norwegian Cyclone Model, as it was also called, introduced several new weather concepts. These included air masses (large bodies of air with the same temperature), fronts (areas where warm and cold masses meet), and the polar front (the idea that cyclones form along this boundry).

This model also described the life cycle of a cyclone. It starts with a cold air mass to the north and a warm mass to the south. Next, an upper level air distrubance causes the air to rotate. The storm then becomes mature and dangerous. The warm air mass is eventually forced upward. Finally, the cyclone weakens and disappears.

Answer: Balloon

A Soviet meteorologist, Pavel Molchanov, flew the radiosonde out of St. Petersburg. It was a device containing sensors, a radio, and a balloon. It was designed to go high into the atmosphere to measure meteorological data and transmit it back down. This original device measured air pressure, temperature, and humidity.

The data from this first launch was successfully recorded for 32 minutes after the balloon reached an altitude of approximately 5.5 miles (8.9 km). This ground breaking experiment proved that weather was not just a ground-level activity but also occurred vertically. The atmosphere, in almost 3D form, could now be "mapped".

Answer: Weather satellite

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) launched the weather satellite on April 1, 1960. It was an 18-sided drum shape and was covered with over 9,000 solar cells for power. It also carried two television cameras and two video recorders. Images were transmitted back to earth and also stored for later viewing.

In just shy of 80 days, it sent back over 19,000 images. Meteorologists could now see large-scale weather systems, such as the full spiral patterns of cyclones. They could see ice pack conditions in northern countries and could track the jet stream visually. The satellite's data was also fed into early computer models that helped track atmospheric patterns.

Answer: The butterfly effect

Chaos theory is the study of systems that are completely predictable in theory, but impossible to predict accurately in actual practice. This was applied to meterology in the 1960s. Lorenz claimed that the weather itself is a chaotic system, meaning it is extremely complex and also extremely sensitive to every tiny detail in the atmosphere. He famously gave a speech called "Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?"

This was the butterfly effect. It states, in essence, that a tiny event (the flapping of a butterfly wing) in a chaotic system (the environment) can lead to huge outcomes (a massive tornado). He stated that perfect long-range weather forecasting is fundamentally impossible due to this effect and that, in reality, about two weeks is the limit of accurate weather predictions.

Answer: Doppler

Doppler radar allows forecasters to detect severe weather signatures, like rotation within a thunderstorm. The radar sends out short pulses of microwave energy into the atmosphere.These pulses then strike targets like raindrops or snow. Some energy then bounces back to the radar antenna. This time period is measured and the velocity of the target is calculated.

This is very important, because traditional radar only showed location and intensity of precipitation, where Doppler radar can detect the wind patterns inside clouds. Now forecasters can see inbound and outbound wind right next to each other, which indicates a strong rotating column of air. This helps give advance warning for potential catastrophic weather conditions.