Weather Hazards | AQA GCSE Geography (8035)
Weather Hazards
- 89 questions
- 7 subtopics
- Paper 1
- Paper 1
Weather Hazards is examined in Paper 1, Living with the physical environment.
It covers global atmospheric circulation: pressure belts and surface winds, where tropical storms form, and why, the structure of a tropical storm, and the effect of climate change, the effects of and responses to tropical storms, reducing the effects of tropical storms, weather hazards in the UK and an extreme weather event in the UK, and evidence of more extreme weather.
Sample questions from Weather Hazards
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Global atmospheric circulation: pressure belts and surface winds
What weather is typical underneath a belt of rising air?
Show the answer
Cloud and heavy rainfall, because the rising air cools and its water vapour condenses. -
Global atmospheric circulation: pressure belts and surface winds
Which prevailing wind brings most of the UK's weather, and from which direction does it blow?
Show the answer
The westerlies, which blow from the south-west across the zone between about 30° and 60° north. -
Where tropical storms form, and why
Between which latitudes do tropical storms almost always develop?
Show the answer
Roughly between 5° and 30° north and south of the equator. -
Where tropical storms form, and why
Why does strong wind shear stop a storm developing?
Show the answer
It tears the top off the growing cloud column, so storms only build where winds change little with height. -
The structure of a tropical storm, and the effect of climate change
What are the rainbands of a tropical storm?
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Spiralling bands of thunderstorm cloud outside the eyewall, which bring bursts of heavy rain and gusty winds with calmer gaps between them. -
The structure of a tropical storm, and the effect of climate change
Why might warmer oceans make these storms more powerful?
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Warmer water supplies more energy and more evaporation, so wind speeds and rainfall totals are expected to increase. -
The effects of and responses to tropical storms
What is meant by a long-term response?
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Work carried out over months and years to rebuild the area and to reduce the damage a future storm would do. -
The effects of and responses to tropical storms
What were the main primary effects of Typhoon Haiyan?
Show the answer
About 6,300 people were killed, over a million homes were damaged or destroyed, and power, water and communications were cut across the central Philippines.
The 7 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Global atmospheric circulation: pressure belts and surface winds | What drives global circulation, the three cells, rising air at the equator and sinking air at 30°, the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone, trade winds, westerlies and the Coriolis effect. | 10 |
| Where tropical storms form, and why | Hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones by ocean, the latitudes where storms form, the Coriolis effect, the Hadley cell, trade winds, sea temperature, wind shear, the stages of growth and weakening over land. | 11 |
| The structure of a tropical storm, and the effect of climate change | The eye, eyewall and rainbands of a tropical storm, its spiral shape, hurricane wind speeds and the Saffir–Simpson scale, storm surges, and how warmer oceans may change the strength, distribution and number of storms. | 10 |
| The effects of and responses to tropical storms | Primary and secondary effects of tropical storms, immediate and long-term responses, and Typhoon Haiyan in 2013: its storm surge in Tacloban, its deaths and displacement, the relief effort and rebuilding in the Philippines. | 19 |
| Reducing the effects of tropical storms | Monitoring storms with satellites and aircraft, forecasting their track, warnings, protecting buildings, mangroves and salt marsh as natural defences, planning, public education, and why preparation matters most in poorer countries. | 10 |
| Weather hazards in the UK | What extreme weather is, the UK's weather hazards from gales and flooding to snow, drought, heatwaves and thunderstorms, when and where they strike, and the damage and disruption each causes. | 10 |
| An extreme weather event in the UK, and evidence of more extreme weather | The causes and social, economic and environmental impacts of a UK weather event, management and forecasting, the 2014 Somerset Levels floods with the dredging and action plan that followed, and the evidence that UK weather is becoming more extreme. | 19 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
AQA GCSE Geography Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 1,429 questions with their answers.