The weather’s constantly changing. Do you consider yourself a weather wizard? If so, test your knowledge with the best weather trivia.
The weather determines what you wear and do on a day.
Aside from your plans, the weather also affects food and water supply.
At its core, the weather is the state of the atmosphere.
Whether you’re teaching or a weather fanatic, check out the following weather trivia questions and answers.
Table of Contents
Ultimate weather trivia questions and answers
Question: The lowest recorded temperature on Earth was -89.2°C (-128.6°F) on July 21, 1983. On what continent did this occur?
Answer: Antarctica.
Question: How can crickets help you estimate the temperature outside?
Answer: Count the number of chirps in 15 seconds. Then, add 37. The result is the approximate temperature in Fahrenheit (Source: Library of Congress).
Question: What does an anemometer measure?
Answer: Wind
Question: At any given moment, approximately how many thunderstorms are happening?
Answer: 2,000 (Source: National Severe Storms Laboratory).
Question: What’s the term for rain that evaporates before reaching the ground?
Answer: Virga.
Question: On average, how many inches of snow is equal to one inch of rain?
Answer: 13.
Question: At what speed does a tropical storm become a hurricane?
Answer: 74 mph.
Question: What’s the only cloud type that can produce hail, thunder, and lightning?
Answer: Cumulonimbus.
Question: What’s a haboob?
Answer: An intense dust storm.
Question: What’s the term for the amount of water vapor in the air?
Answer: Humidity.
Question: What’s the name for the ocean current that carries warm water up the eastern coast of the United States and Canada and affects western Europe?
Answer: The Gulf Stream.
Question: What is Cape Farewell in Greenland known for being?
Answer: The windiest place on Earth.
Question: What’s the sunniest place on Earth?
Answer: Yuma, Arizona. It gets an average of 4,015 hours of sunshine each year.
Question: True or false, hailstones larger than 4 inches can fall at over 100 mph?
Answer: True (Source: NOAA)
Question: What are the three requirements to make a winter storm?
Answer: Cold air, lift, and moisture.
Question: What are the most dangerous kinds of floods?
Answer: Flash floods.
Question: What causes heat waves?
Answer: High pressure in the atmosphere pushes warm air toward the ground.
Question: What type of clouds has bases below 6,500 feet?
Answer: Low clouds, such as stratus, stratocumulus, and nimbostratus.
Question: What’s the term for the boundary between two air masses?
Answer: A front.
Question: What are the six main components of weather?
Answer: Temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind, humidity, precipitation, and cloudiness.
Question: What tool is used to measure atmospheric pressure?
Answer: A barometer.
Question: What’s the name for a sudden and brief increase in wind speed?
Answer: A gust.
Question: What does the Beaufort scale measure?
Answer: Wind speeds.
Question: What are the strong winds in California called?
Answer: Santa Ana winds.
Question: What are the names of the two climate patterns that affect weather worldwide?
Answer: El Niño and La Niña.
Weather trivia for kids
Question: Stratus, cirrus, and nimbus are types of what?
Answer: Clouds.
Question: Why does lightning appear before the sound of thunder?
Answer: Light travels faster than sound.
Question: What’s the name for the center of a hurricane?
Answer: The eye.
Question: How many minutes does it take sunlight to reach the Earth?
Answer: 8 minutes.
Question: Which is heavier (denser), cold air or warm air?
Answer: Cold air.
Question: What do you call a person who studies the weather and climate events?
Answer: A meteorologist.
Question: What does a thermometer measure?
Answer: The temperature.
Question: What’s the name for a cloud that touches the ground?
Answer: Fog.
Question: What are the four main stages of the water cycle?
Answer: Evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection.
Question: At what temperature does snow form?
Answer: 0°C or 32°F.
Question: What’s the name for the layer of air that surrounds the Earth?
Answer: The atmosphere.
Extreme weather trivia
Question: Where was the hottest US-recorded temperature of 134.1 °F in 1913?
Answer: California’s Death Valley.
Question: The heaviest hailstone fell on Bangladesh in April 1986. How much did it weigh?
Answer: 1.02 kg (2.25 lbs).
Question: Where’s the driest place on Earth?
Answer: The Atacama Desert in Chile.
Question: Chile had the longest dry period recorded. How many months did it last?
Answer: 172 months.
Question: What country holds the record for most rainfall in a year?
Answer: India. The country had 1,042 inches of rain from August 8, 1860 to July 7, 1861.
Question: What’s the name for a tornado that moves over water?
Answer: A waterspout.
Weather history trivia
Question: What’s the fastest recorded speed of Tropical Cyclone Olivia in April 1996?
Answer: 408 kmh (253 mph).
Question: How many times has it snowed in Miami, Florida?
Answer: Once, in 1977 (Source: NBC Miami).
Question: In what year did Hurricane Katrina occur?
Answer: 2005.
Question: How long did the Great Blizzard of 1888 last?
Answer: Three days.
Question: What happened to the lost army of King Cambyses in 525 BC?
Answer: They were buried in a sandstorm.
Question: In 2001, a unique color of rain fell in Kerala, India. What color was it?
Answer: Red.
Question: How long was the River Thames frozen during the Great Frost in England?
Answer: Two months.
Question: What was the most destructive river flood in the history of the United States?
Answer: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.
Question: How long did The Great September Gale in New England last?
Answer: Two days.
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Featured image by David Em/Box of Puns.