April Showers to March’s Lions and Lambs

Question: What is the maximal temperature range ever recorded on Earth?

Answer: The coldest recorded temperature is –128.2 ºF (–89 ºC). The hottest recorded temperature is 135.8 ºF (57.7 ºC).

Question: What is the lowest temperature ever recorded in Africa, in degrees Celsius?

Answer: Africa’s lowest recorded temperature was –24, registered in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco in February 1935.

Question: Which of these things is believed to be a cause of global climate change?

Answer: Scientists believe greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, raising temperatures. Cattle herds emit gas and require clearing trees for pastureland, increasing the amount of these gases.

Question: Which of the following is a valuable tool for forecasting weather?

Answer: Weather balloons with electronic instruments can radio wind speed, temperature, and humidity at various heights to forecasters.

Question: Which of these things is not thought to be caused by global climate change?

Answer: Many scientists believe that abnormal worldwide temperature increases are causing droughts and raising ocean levels by melting snow and glaciers.

Question: What is the Pineapple Express?

Answer: The Pineapple Express is a southern branch of the polar jet stream that flows across the central Pacific Ocean in wintertime, bringing warm air to North America.

Question: What is a biome?

Answer: A biome is a large region that has a certain climate and certain types of living things. Major biomes are tundra, taiga, deciduous forest, grassland, desert, and tropical rain forest.

Question: In India, what season is associated with the monsoon?

Answer: The monsoon season in India lasts from June to September, a period roughly corresponding to summer.

Question: What was the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth?

Answer: The hottest temperature recorded on Earth was measured at 136 ºF (58 ºC) in the Sahara desert of Libya on September 13, 1922.

Question: What is a line on a map that connects points of equal temperature called?

Answer: An isotherm is a line on a map that connects points of equal temperature to show the location of weather systems.