45+ Ultimate Weather Trivia Questions and Answers

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.

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.