English Text Analysis Worksheet (Page 2 of 3) in pdf

stage. Depending on the conditions present in the atmosphere, these three stages

can take anywhere from 20 minutes to several hours to occur.

4. The idea that can be inferred from paragraph B is:

A: Warm air is denser than cool air

B: All thunderstorms will go through three stages.

C: Thunderstorms may occur without clouds present.

D: The stages of a thunderstorm are finished in just a few minutes.

5. When warm air rises through colder air, it results in:

A: Evaporation.

B: Humidity.

C: Clear skies.

D: Condensation.

Paragraph C

The first stage of a thunderstorm is the cumulus stage, or developing stage. In this

stage, masses of moisture are lifted upwards into the atmosphere. The trigger for

this lift can be insulation heating the ground producing thermals, areas where two

winds converge forcing air upwards, or where winds blow over terrain of increasing

elevation. The moisture rapidly cools into liquid drops of water, which appears as

cumulus clouds. As the water vapor condenses into liquid, latent heat is released

which warms the air, causing it to become less dense than the surrounding dry air.

The air tends to rise in an updraft through the process of convection (hence the term

convective precipitation). This creates a low-pressure zone beneath the forming

thunderstorm. In a typical thunderstorm, approximately 5×108 kg of water vapor

are lifted, and the amount of energy released when this condenses is about equal to

the energy used by a city (US-2002) of 100,000 during a month.

6. The cumulus stage of the thunderstorm is the:

A: Last stage of the storm.

B: The middle stage of the storm formation.

C: The beginning of the thunderstorm.

D: The period after the thunderstorm has ended.

7. The air is warmed due to:

A: Air moving downwards which will create a high pressure zone.

B: Air cools and becomes less dense, so that it rises.

C: Moisture moving downwards towards the earth.

D: Heat which is latent, and is caused by water vapor that is condensing into a liquid

form.

Paragraph D

A severe thunderstorm is a term designating a thunderstorm that has reached a

predetermined level of severity. Often, this level is determined by the storm being

strong enough to inflict wind or hail damage. In most of the United States, a storm is

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