Summative Assessment: Weather Unit

Second Grade
Answer Key
Short Answer:
1. What are the four stages of the water cycle?
Answer: Evaporation, Condensation, Precipitation, Accumulation/Collection

True and False:

2. Rain is the most common type of precipitation.
Answer: True

3. Sleet is a mixture of water and snow.

Answer: False it’s a mixture of water and ice.

4. Snow is created when it is cold in the clouds and freezing at the surface.
Answer: True

5. As wind gets stronger, hail sizes increase.

Answer: True

Matching:
6. A cloud that hangs low in the sky and often brings drizzles and snowflakes.
Answer: Stratus

7. A puffy white cloud that can bring hail and tornadoes.

Answer: cumulous

8. A huge cloud that can bring hail and tornadoes.

Answer: cumulonimbus

9. A cloud made of trillions of ice crystals.

Answer: Cirrus

Multiple Choice:
10. Which of the following is a type of weather?
Answer: Sunny

11. What is temperature?

Answer: How hot or cold something is

12.What is climate?
Answer: The weather conditions over a long period of time.

13. Which of the following is a climate zone?

Answer: Polar
14. What does a thermometer measure?
Answer: The temperature outside.
Essay
15. Pick one of the five natural disasters discussed during class (tsunamis, blizzards,
tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes).

Describe what happens when one of the natural disasters occurs and what you should do
during it. Include at least three specific facts about the natural disaster and at least two
things you would do in order to prepare for one.

Answer:
(Could vary from any of the following.)

Tornado:
What causes a tornado?
 Air starts to rotate when the wind is at two different altitudes, blowing at different
speeds
 Fast spins make a funnel cloud
 The funnel cloud rotates and touches down.
 Rain and hail from the storm makes the funnel touch the ground
What damage does it cause?
 If it is a low grade tornado it can cause minimal damage such as ripping siding off
a home but -can also be extreme and lift homes off their foundations
 Flipping mobile homes upside down
 Toppling large trees
 Picking up cars and dropping them miles away
 Fatal injuries and fatalities to people
What should you do during a tornado?
 If you are in a house go to the lowest level, such as a basement or a storm cellar
 If you are outside and cannot get to shelter, crouch beside a strong structure or lie
flat in a ditch of low-lying area and try to cover your head and neck
 Try to cover your head with a blanket or jacket to guard against flying debris or
broken glass. -If you are in a mobile home, you should leave immediately and
seek shelter elsewhere
 We are safer in a room with no windows when a tornado occurs

Tsunami:
What causes a tsunami?
 Any large displacement of the sea level
 Most common cause is sea flood uplift associated with an earthquake
 Also triggered by landslide under the water surface
What damage does it cause?
 Destroys everything in their path including boats, buildings, houses, hotels, cars,
trees, telephone lines
 Entire towns and villages can be washed away in minutes
What should you do during a tsunami?
 Move inland or to higher ground immediately and stay there
 Stay away from the beach because if you can see the wave you are too close to
escape it
 Turn on your radio to find out important safety information

Blizzard:
What causes a blizzard?
 Warm air must rise over the cold air (below freezing) in order to make the snow.
 Moisture is needed to form clouds.
What damage does it cause?
 High winds and knock trees down
 Snow can become so heavy, it will weigh things down (power lines) leading to no
power.
What should you do during a blizzard?
 Stay inside
 Try not to drive anywhere
 Walk carefully on snowy/icy roads

Earthquake:
What causes an earthquake?
 When tectonic plates shift (move around) and plates scrape, bump, or drag along
each other
 Tectonic plates are located along the surface of the earth, and even on the ocean
floor.
 People do not feel many of them because they are located far beneath the earth, or
deep in the sea.
What damage does it cause?
 Earthquakes can cause mudslides, tsunamis, and flooding.
 They can destroy houses and cause huge holes in the ground.
 They can cause the earth to shake that can cause windows to break, structures to
collapse, fire, and other dangers.
 Geologists can predict earthquakes
What should you do during an earthquake?
 Drop, cover, and hold on
 Stay indoors until the shaking stops
 Stay away from windows
 If you’re in bed, hold on and stay there, protecting your head with a pillow.
 If you’re outdoors, find a clear spot away from buildings, trees and power lines.
Then, drop to the ground.
 If you’re in a a car, slow down and drive to a safe place. Stay in the car until the
shaking stops.

Volcanic Eruption:
What causes a volcanic eruption?
 An active volcano is one that erupts regularly.
  A dormant volcano is one that hasn’t erupted for many years but still has some
activity deep inside.
 An extinct volcano is one that is no longer active.
 The earth’s crust is made of plates and when those plates move it causes an
eruption.
What damage does it cause?
 Lava can spill over entire towns or villages causing mass destruction.
 The ash creates harmful air that is unhealthy to breathe. There is also a lot of
flying debris and rocks in the area.
 The intense heat may make it dangerous to be near the area of the volcano.
What should you do during a volcanic eruption?
 Avoid all low-lying areas because that is where lavas likes to flow.
 Seek cover to stay safe from any rocks that may fall in the process.
 You can wear a mask to protect yourself from breathing in any of the ash in the
air.
 Close all doors and windows in your house to keep the ash from getting inside.