A steel spoon stands in a pot of soup at 90 degrees C. Nobody touches the handle, yet 3 minutes later the handle above the soup is hot. Which process moved that energy along the spoon?

On a clear morning a dark metal bench in still air at 5 degrees C measures 18 degrees C on its sunlit surface. Which process delivered energy from the Sun to that surface?

A body of air over northern Canada in winter sits still for a week, and measurements taken across it show nearly the same low temperature and low humidity everywhere. What names that body of air?

Over a sunlit parking lot the air rises, spreads out aloft, sinks over a shaded park and flows back across the ground, repeating all afternoon. What names that closed loop of moving air?

Along a coast, wind pushes surface water away from the shore for several days. Water arriving at the surface near the shore is 8 degrees C colder and richer in nutrients. What names this process?

As a tropical cyclone comes ashore, coastal tide gauges read 4 meters above the predicted tide, and seawater floods streets a kilometer inland. What is that rise in sea level called?

Pilots at 10 kilometers altitude measure a narrow ribbon of west-to-east wind blowing at 200 kilometers per hour, with much slower air above it and below it. What names that band of fast wind?

Weather balloons released across the Northern Hemisphere drift toward low pressure, but each traces a path that curves to its right instead of running straight. What names that deflection?

A lab report reads: 'Both spoons began at 20 degrees C. After 5 minutes in hot water the metal spoon reached 61 degrees C and the wooden one 24 degrees C, so wood is the better ______.'

A forecaster writes: 'Warm air has been sliding up over retreating cold air for 12 hours, with steady light rain and slowly rising temperatures, so a ______ is crossing the state.' Which term fills the gap?

A ship's log reads: 'Each kilogram of seawater near the river mouth held 12 grams of dissolved solids, and 60 kilometers offshore it held 35 grams, so ______ rises offshore.' Which term fills the gap?

A station log reads: 'The barometer fell all afternoon, winds spiraled inward, cloud thickened and rain began, so a region of ______ had moved over us.' Which term fills the gap?

A sailor's journal reads: 'Between 30 and 60 degrees north we met wind from the west on 26 of 30 days, so these westerlies are the ______ here.' Which term fills the gap?

A buoy team writes: 'Our drifter traveled 4,000 kilometers northeast along the same warm path four earlier drifters took, so a steady ______ carried it.' Which term fills the gap?

A city's records show 30-year averages of 1,100 millimeters of rain a year and mild winters, while yesterday brought 8 millimeters and 3 degrees C. Which term names the 30-year picture?

A rotating storm with 190 kilometer-per-hour winds forms over the western North Pacific near the Philippines. Which term do forecasters there use for this storm?

A station records a 9 degrees C temperature drop within an hour, a sharp wind shift, a brief line of heavy thunderstorms, and a rising barometer afterward. Which boundary just passed?

Two beakers of water both read 40 degrees C, but one holds 100 grams of water and the other holds 500 grams. Which quantity is greater in the larger beaker?

Two air samples each hold 6 grams of water vapor per kilogram of air, but one is at 10 degrees C and the other at 30 degrees C. Which measurement differs between them?

A storm's cold front catches up to its warm front and lifts the warm air completely off the ground. What is the combined boundary now over the station called?