And the weather quiz winner is...

Wendie! Well, honestly, the winner was Brian. He did this completely on his own, FYI, but he was the only one who had all 16 answers right. He said I should default to the next best score, which is Wendie with 15. Congrats Wendie! I'll get your gift card in the mail.

Thanks everyone who played along! It was fun - I'll have to do another game sometime. Here are the answers. I'm sure there was some discrepancy in the answers from different sources. I based my answers on what I learned in my weather spotters class and info from the official National Weather Service weather spotters guide.

1. What is the number one weather hazard in the United States?
-Flooding

2. What is the number one weather hazard in Colorado?
-Lightning

3. What is the number one killer among weather phenomena?
-Lightning

4. What is a highly organized thunderstorm called?
-Supercell

5. What is NOAA an acronym for?
-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

6. Who developed the F scale for rating tornadoes?
-Dr. Theodore Fujita

7. The F scale ranges from an F0 tornado on the low end to an ____ on the high end.
-F5

8. How many documented hail-related deaths have there been in the United States?
-Two

9. What is a violently rotating column of air that has not touched the ground called?
-Funnel cloud

10. A thunderstorm is defined as severe it if produces a tornado, wind gusts 58 miles an hour or higher, and/or hail that is HOW WIDE in diameter?
-3/4 inch

11. At any given moment, there are roughly _______ thunderstorms in progress around the world: a) 2,000 b) 4,000 c) 6,000
-a (2,000)

12. In the United States, the Florida Peninsula and the southeast plains of THIS STATE have the highest thunderstorm frequency:
-Colorado

13.What region of the United States has an average of only 2 to 3 thunderstorms each year? New England b) Pacific Northwest c) Great Lakes
-b (Pacific Northwest)

14. All thunderstorms, whether or not they become severe, must have three conditions present in order to form: instability, lift, and ____?
-Moisture

15. What do you call a strong downdraft with an outrush of damaging winds on or near the ground?
-Downburst

16. A ____ tornado is when two or more circulations orbit about each other or a common center. (most of the deadly, destructive tornadoes in the US were this type of tornado.)
-multiple vortex


Oh, and BTW, my official weather spotter number arrived in the mail this week. So, next time severe weather strikes, I'm all ready to file a report on what is happening at my house!