Extreme Weather Events · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

When Weather Turns Wild

Science · Weather & Climate · ages 9-11
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. Where do hurricanes typically form?

    • Over frozen mountain peaks
    • Over warm tropical ocean
    • Over dry desert land

  2. What gives a hurricane the energy to form and grow?

    • Warm ocean water
    • Cold mountain air
    • Strong sunlight alone

  3. A hurricane only affects the ocean, never the land or the people living near the coast.

    Circle one:   True   False

  4. Why does Tornado Alley in the United States see so many tornadoes?

    • Warm, humid Gulf air collides there with cool, dry mountain air
    • It never rains there
    • The ocean is right next to it

  5. A tornado starts spinning when...

    • The ocean water gets too cold to evaporate
    • The sky stays completely calm and still for days
    • Warm, humid air crashes into cool, dry air and begins to twist

  6. Look at the chart. About how fast can a tornado's wind blow, in miles per hour?

    Breeze10Thunderstorm50Hurricane110Tornado200

    Answer: ______________

  7. A flooded coastal town loses homes to a hurricane, and a farming town loses its crops and river to a drought. What do these two events have in common?

    • Neither event actually affects the people living there
    • Both are caused by the exact same kind of storm
    • Both are extreme weather events that reshape the land and disrupt people's lives

  8. Maria says hurricanes and tornadoes both form over the ocean. What is wrong with her idea?

    • Only tornadoes form over the ocean; hurricanes form over land
    • Only hurricanes form over the ocean; tornadoes form over land
    • Both actually form high in the mountains
LightMySky · lightmysky.comW1-mt_6EfevRyeFW-s1

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

When Weather Turns Wild W1-mt_6EfevRyeFW-s1

  1. Over warm tropical ocean · Hurricanes need warm ocean water to grow, so they form over tropical oceans.
  2. Warm ocean water · Warm ocean water evaporates fast, and that rising warm air is what powers a hurricane.
  3. False · Hurricanes move onto land, where they can flood towns and damage homes.
  4. Warm, humid Gulf air collides there with cool, dry mountain air · That part of the country is where warm humid air and cool dry air regularly crash together and start spinning.
  5. Warm, humid air crashes into cool, dry air and begins to twist · That collision between warm humid air and cool dry air is what starts a tornado twisting.
  6. 200 · Tornadoes can spin incredibly fast because all that spinning energy squeezes into one narrow column of air.
  7. Both are extreme weather events that reshape the land and disrupt people's lives · Flooding and drought look very different, but both are extreme weather events that change the land and the lives of people there.
  8. Only hurricanes form over the ocean; tornadoes form over land · Hurricanes need warm ocean water to form, but tornadoes drop from thunderstorms over land.
Worksheet · LightMySky