Question 1 of 15
What is the minimum wind speed for a Category 5 hurricane?
Why: 157 mph (252 km/h) is the threshold on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
Question 2 of 15
What is the calm center of a hurricane called?
Why: The eye is a small, mostly clear area of low pressure at the storm's center.
Question 3 of 15
What ocean water temperature is generally required for tropical cyclone formation?
Why: Warm water fuels the convection that drives tropical cyclones.
Question 4 of 15
Who names Atlantic hurricanes?
Why: The WMO maintains rotating lists of 21 names per year.
Question 5 of 15
What is a tropical cyclone in the northwestern Pacific called?
Why: Same weather phenomenon, different regional name.
Question 6 of 15
What year was the deadliest US hurricane, in Galveston, Texas?
Why: The Galveston hurricane killed about 8,000 people in September 1900.
Question 7 of 15
What is the term for the sudden rise in sea level driven by a hurricane's winds?
Why: Storm surge causes most hurricane fatalities.
Question 8 of 15
What plane hunts hurricanes for NOAA?
Why: The Hurricane Hunters fly WP-3D Orions and Gulfstream IV-SPs into and above storms.
Question 9 of 15
What is 'rapid intensification'?
Why: Rapid intensification is defined as +35 mph max sustained winds in 24 hours.
Question 10 of 15
What was the lowest sea-level pressure ever recorded in an Atlantic hurricane?
Why: Hurricane Wilma's 882 mb is the record.
Question 11 of 15
Where do most tropical cyclones NOT form?
Why: The Coriolis effect is too weak near the equator to spin up a cyclone.
Question 12 of 15
What was the costliest hurricane in US history?
Why: Katrina totaled over $190 billion in 2020 dollars.
Question 13 of 15
What Atlantic hurricane season officially begins on what date?
Why: June 1 through November 30 is the official season.
Question 14 of 15
What are the outer bands of a hurricane called?
Why: All three terms refer to the same outer curved bands.
Question 15 of 15
What was Hurricane Andrew's category at landfall in Florida (1992)?
Why: Andrew was upgraded to Category 5 after reanalysis.