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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. General Hazen is in charge of what?
(a) U.S. Department of Agriculture.
(b) U.S. Weather Bureau.
(c) U.S. Signal Corps.
(d) U.S. Army.

2. Where do the winds of the tropical storm suddenly weaken, causing forecasters to miscalculate the intensity and path of the storm?
(a) Mississippi.
(b) New Orleans.
(c) Key West.
(d) Cuba.

3. Isaac receives conflicting reports about the storm's intensity from where?
(a) Cuba.
(b) Mexico.
(c) Washington.
(d) Florida.

4. What is the date at the opening of the book?
(a) September 9, 1900.
(b) September 7, 1900.
(c) September 8, 1999.
(d) September 7, 1901.

5. The Friday before the hurricane brings what?
(a) Torrential rain.
(b) Rough seas.
(c) Strong wind.
(d) Cooler weather.

Short Answer Questions

1. What word does the U.S. weather service make every effort to avoid?

2. Who came up with a compelling theory about the cause of the trade winds?

3. What is the name of the tropical storm that dumped record amounts of rain on the Texas coast in 1979?

4. What does Italian physicist Evangelista Torricelli discover?

5. How old is Isaac?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Isaac observe when he goes to the beach the morning of the storm?

2. What is the purpose of the eighteen-page letter that William Stockman sends to Col. Dunwoody?

3. What does Isaac do for the U.S. Weather Bureau?

4. What does Isaac compare the feeling to that he has on the night before the hurricane?

5. What is the butterfly effect?

6. Why is the final payment on the piano a significant accomplishment to Louisa Rollfing?

7. What is Galveston like in 1900?

8. What happens to the weather in Galveston two days before the storm?

9. What did the crew of Captain William Seymour's ship experience in the eye of a storm in 1837?

10. How did Isaac do in the initial part of his training for the weather service?

(see the answer keys)

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