Free Practice Question
RC · Reading Comprehension
705-805
Short Passage - Science
Reading Passage
Hurricane forecasters have difficulty determining maximum sustained surface-level winds. Reconnaissance aircraft usually obtain data from a flight level of 10,000 feet. However, in 1997, reconnaissance aircraft began deploying dropwindsondes in hurricanes. These weather instruments, carrying global positioning systems and affixed to parachutes, acquire detailed data from flight level down to surface level. Near the eyewall—the ring of towering thunderstorms surrounding a hurricane's eye—the strongest winds are usually found at around 1,600 feet, about 20 percent stronger than at flight level. In the hurricanes' outer reaches, however, wind maximums are typically found at higher elevations. The data also show that, near the eyewall, winds on top of a thirty-story building average about twenty miles per hour stronger than at ground level. Given the collective dropwindsonde data, forecasters typically estimate eyewall surface-level winds at about 90 percent of flight-level winds, with surface-level winds in the outer reaches at about 78 percent.
Hurricane Mitch in 1998, however, exhibited maximum flight-level winds no stronger than 150 miles per hour, yet dropwindsondes indicated much stronger surface-level winds. In this case, Mitch appeared to be weakening from the top down; the circulation at flight levels was decreasing but had yet to decrease at surface levels. This storm is a reminder that the typical estimates often need modification based on certain real-time factors, especially convective (warm-air updraft) intensity and sea-surface temperature.
Hurricane Mitch in 1998, however, exhibited maximum flight-level winds no stronger than 150 miles per hour, yet dropwindsondes indicated much stronger surface-level winds. In this case, Mitch appeared to be weakening from the top down; the circulation at flight levels was decreasing but had yet to decrease at surface levels. This storm is a reminder that the typical estimates often need modification based on certain real-time factors, especially convective (warm-air updraft) intensity and sea-surface temperature.
Suppose that the windows on the top floor of a thirty-story building will shatter in 200 mile-per- hour winds. Under which of the following circumstances does the passage suggest that the windows would be most likely to break?
Answer Choices
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The building is in the outer reaches of a hurricane when surface-level winds reach 180 miles per hour.
B
The building is in the outer reaches of a hurricane when flight-level winds reach 200 miles per hour.
C
The building is in the eyewall of a hurricane when surface-level winds reach 150 miles per hour.
D
The building is in the eyewall of a hurricane when flight-level winds reach 200 miles per hour.
E
The building is in the eyewall of a hurricane when winds at 1,600 feet reach 200 miles per hour.
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Difficulty
705-805
Type
RC
Category