Animals that live in the desert possess unique characteristics that allow them

to survive the harsh conditions of their habitats. Deserts, with extreme

temperature ranges and arid climates, pose difficult challenges for the diverse
species that make their homes there. Temperature and aridity-the major
concerns faced by desert animals—serve as the primary causes for many of
their climatic adaptations.
Maintaining optimal body temperatures is critical for animals in a variety of
climates, but in regions where environmental temperatures range to high
extremes, control over body temperature is particularly essential, often making
the difference between life and death. Desert animals have many ways of
dealing with their scorching habitats. These adaptations can be roughly
divided into two categories: adaptations for heat avoidance and 20
adaptations that accomplish heat dissipation.
Many species avoid the heat by seeking shelter in microclimates—areas that
can be considered miniature “climates” in a sense, for their environmental
conditions differ, in terms of temperature, from the larger climate they are
contained within. [A] For example, kangaroo rats hide away in a type of
underground microclimate—deep burrows
that keep them cool. [B]

By waiting until the sun sets to begin their periods of activity, nocturnal
animals avoid the heat by coordinating their habits. [C] A wide variety of
species have evolved this tactic.[D] Mountain lions, coyotes, and bats are
among the numerous nocturnal desert species that spend the day avoiding the
powerful heat.

While some animals adjust their behavior to help them survive in the desert,
others rely on physical adaptations to help them dissipate heat. Some animals
have evolved advantageous coloration to help them reflect sunlight away from
their bodies, preventing the unnecessary absorption of excess heat. The desert
iguana is a species that is capable of adjusting its body color, lightening in
color to almost pure white during the hottest hours of the day. This ability
permits it to remain active during midday while high temperatures confine
many other animals to areas of shade.

Another means of heat dissipation is evaporative cooling, which helps some

animals lower their body temperatures. Cheetahs and kangaroos, for example,
lick their paws because the resulting evaporation of water dissipates heat,
helping them maintain comfortable body temperatures. Additionally,
cheetahs—and several other species, like desert bighorn sheep—employ
evaporative cooling in the form of panting, which facilitates evaporation from
the respiratory system.
In deserts, which by definition receive less than twenty-five centimeters of
rain a year, adaptations related to water procurement and water conservation
are absolutely necessary. Some species have highly efficient adaptations that
enable them to survive for long periods without water. In fact, the most
economical desert species do not even need to drink at all.

For some animals, acquiring the water they need is a simple matter, for their
adaptations to their habitat free them from the obligation of searching for
water; their water requirements are fulfilled by the water content in the foods
they eat. Some insect species obtain water from succulent desert plants like
cactuses. In their leaves, stems, and fruit, plants store fluids that provide
insects with the water they need to survive. Ostriches are also able to meet
their water requirements through their food, and they can survive for months
without water. Similarly, addax—desert- dwelling antelope—and kangaroo rats
obtain all the moisture they need from the foods they 5 eat. Both of these
animals are capable of going their entire lives without drinking any water.

Adaptations for efficient water procurement are one evolutionary result of life
in the desert, but there are others. Water conservation adaptations also help
some species, reducing the amount of water they lose through the excretion of
wastes. Instead of excreting urine diluted with water, these animals discharge
highly concentrated urine. Camels and addax rely on this form of water
conservation to help them endure the parched conditions of their habitats.

Another means of water conservation is related to reproduction. Because

reproduction is an especially water-taxing biological process, a variety of

species cease reproductive activities during dry periods. Grey kangaroos also
stop breeding when there are insufficient water supplies, but they have a
unique method for dealing with prolonged periods of drought: embryonic
diapause. During embryonic diapause, embryos, their growth suppressed,
remain in the uterus for extended periods of time. In this manner, the mother
is able to conserve water and at the same time increase her baby’s chances of
survival by delaying birth until the environment is conducive to the
production of offspring.

1. In paragraph 1, why does the author mention Temperature and aridity?

(A) To provide an established definition for what constitutes a desert
environment
(B) To describe factors that account for many desert animals’ adaptations
(C) To explain why one concept is more important than the other
(D) To identify the specific habitats in which each condition is found

2. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in

the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning
in important ways or leave out essential information.

(A) Deserts are extreme climates, where exposure to high temperatures may
be fatal for animals that are not well adjusted to the environment.
(B) Although animals in temperate regions must also regulate their body
temperatures, this ability is especially crucial for animals in hot climates.
(C) Animals cannot survive if their body temperatures fluctuate too far beyond
the boundaries of their optimal temperature range.
(D) Because deserts have extreme temperatures, animals that inhabit these
regions are exposed to more risks than animals in other climates.

3. The word scorching in the passage is closest in meaning to

(A) overwhelming
(B) intense
(C) burning
(D) stimulating

4. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 5 about animal

activity during midday?

(A) Most animals are inactive during the middle of the day.
(B) Many desert iguanas sleep during the hottest part of the day.
(C) Animals with light coloration are most active during midday.
(D) Desert iguanas usually seek shady places.

5. According to paragraph 6, kangaroos and cheetahs lick their paws because

(A) their paws are especially sensitive to the heat

(B) moisture accumulates on those parts of their bodies
(C) it initiates the process of evaporative cooling
(D) their paws become dry faster than the rest of their bodies
6. The word them in the passage refers to
(A) animals
(B) body temperatures
(C) Cheetahs and kangaroos
(D) paws

7. In paragraph 7, the author illustrates the potential efficiency of adaptations

to arid climates by

(A) telling the average annual amount of water that falls in deserts
(B) explaining that some animals do not need to drink water
(C) giving examples of animals that live in deserts
(D) defining the term “desert”

8 According to paragraph 8, some insects meet their water requirements by

(A) feeding on insects that have special adaptations to the desert

(B) spending their active hours searching for water sources
(C) accessing water held in plants
(D) storing fluids in their bodies

9 The word parched in the passage is closest in meaning to

(A) uncomfortable
(B) strenuous
(C) dry
(D) sour

10. Based on the information in paragraph 8 and paragraph 9, what can be

inferred about addax?

(A) They do not produce urine because they do not drink water.
{B) They are particularly adept at procuring and conserving water.
(C) They cannot survive without water as long as camels can.
(D) They prey on animals that drink large quantities of water.

11 Based on the information in paragraph 10, which of the following best

explains the term embryonic diapause?

(A) The termination of pregnancy

(B) The conception of an embryo during a drought
(C) A temporary cessation of embryonic development
(D) An increase in reproduction before a drought

https://wiki-study.com/toefl-ibt-reading-practice-test-06-from-ivys-reading-
actual-test/
SEVERE WEATHER 101
Hail Basics

What we do: Read more about NSSL's hail research here.

What is hail?

Hail is a form of precipitation that occurs when updrafts in thunderstorms carry raindrops
upward into extremely cold areas of the atmosphere where they freeze into balls of ice.
Hail can damage aircraft, homes and cars, and can be deadly to livestock and people.

How does hail form?

Hailstones grow by colliding with supercooled water drops. Supercooled water will freeze
on contact with ice crystals, frozen raindrops, dust or some other nuclei. Thunderstorms
that have a strong updraft keep lifting the hailstones up to the top of the cloud where
they encounter more supercooled water and continue to grow. The hail falls when the
thunderstorm's updraft can no longer support the weight of the ice or the updraft
weakens. The stronger the updraft the larger the hailstone can grow.

Hailstones can have layers like an onion if they travel up and down in an updraft, or they
can have few or no layers if they are “balanced” in an updraft. One can tell how many
times a hailstone traveled to the top of the storm by counting the layers. Hailstones can
begin to melt and then re-freeze together - forming large and very irregularly shaped
hail.

How does hail fall to the ground?

Hail falls when it becomes heavy enough to overcome the strength of the updraft and is
pulled by gravity towards the earth. How it falls is dependent on what is going on inside
the thunderstorm. Hailstones bump into other raindrops and other hailstones inside the
thunderstorm, and this bumping slows down their fall. Drag and friction also slow their
fall, so it is a complicated question! If the winds are strong enough, they can even blow
hail so that it falls at an angle. This would explain why the screens on one side of a
house can be shredded by hail and the rest are unharmed!

How fast does hail fall?

We really only have estimates about the speed hail falls. One estimate is that a 1cm
hailstone falls at 9 m/s, and an 8cm stone, weighing .7kg falls at 48 m/s (171 km/h).
However, the hailstone is not likely to reach terminal velocity due to friction, collisions
with other hailstones or raindrops, wind, the viscosity of the wind, and melting. Also, the
formula to calculate terminal velocity is based on the assumption that you are dealing
with a perfect sphere. Hail is generally not a perfect sphere!
What areas have the most hail?

Though Florida has the most thunderstorms, Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming usually
have the most hail storms. The area where these three states meet – “hail alley,”
averages seven to nine hail days per year. The reason why this area gets so much hail
is that the freezing levels (the area of the atmosphere at 32 degrees or less) in the high
plains are much closer to the ground than they are at sea level, where hail has plenty of
time to melt before reaching the ground. Other parts of the world that have damaging
hailstorms include China, Russia, India and northern Italy.

When viewed from the air, it is evident that hail falls in paths known as hail swaths. They
can range in size from a few acres to an area 10 miles wide and 100 miles long. Piles of
hail in hail swaths have been so deep, a snow plow was required to remove them, and
occasionally, hail drifts have been reported.

How large can hail get?

Hail is usually pea-sized to marble-sized, but big thunderstorms can produce big hail.
The largest hailstone recovered in the U.S. fell in Vivian, SD on June 23, 2010 with a
diameter of 8 inches and a circumference of 18.62 inches. It weighed 1 lb 15 oz.

Estimating Hail Size

Hail size is estimated by comparing it to a known object. Most hail storms are made up
of a mix of sizes, and only the very largest hail stones pose serious risk to people caught
in the open.

 Pea = 1/4 inch diameter

 Marble/mothball = 1/2 inch diameter
 Dime/Penny = 3/4 inch diameter
 Nickel = 7/8 inch
 Quarter = 1 inch — hail quarter size or larger is considered severe
 Ping-Pong Ball = 1 1/2 inch
 Golf Ball = 1 3/4 inches
 Tennis Ball = 2 1/2 inches
 Baseball = 2 3/4 inches
 Tea cup = 3 inches
 Grapefruit = 4 inches
 Softball = 4 1/2 inches
https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/hail/
Hail Forecasting

To forecast hail, deep moist convection is required, in addition to these three basic
ingredients:

 Adequate updraft to keep the hailstone aloft for an appropriate amount of time,
 Sufficient supercooled water near the hailstone to enable growth as it travels
through an updraft, and
 A piece of ice, snow or dust for it to grow upon.

There is no clear distinction between storms that do and do not produce hailstones.
Nearly all severe thunderstorms probably produce hail aloft, though it may melt before
reaching the ground.

Multi-cell thunderstorms produce many hailstones, but not usually the largest
hailstones. In the life cycle of the multi-cell thunderstorm, the mature stage is relatively
short so there is not much time for growth of the hailstone.

Supercell thunderstorms have sustained updrafts that support large hail formation by
repeatedly lifting the hailstones into the very cold air at the top of the thunderstorm
cloud. In general, hail 2 inches (5 cm) or larger in diameter is associated with
supercells. Non-supercell storms are capable of producing golf ball size hail.

In all cases, the hail falls when the thunderstorm's updraft can no longer support the
weight of the ice. The stronger the updraft the larger the hailstone can grow.

SEVERE WEATHER 101

Thunderstorm Basics

What we do: Read more about NSSL's thunderstorm research here.

What is a thunderstorm?

A thunderstorm is a rain shower during which you hear thunder. Since thunder comes
from lightning, all thunderstorms have lightning.

Why do I sometimes hear meteorologists use the word “convection” when talking about
thunderstorms?
 Usually created by surface heating, convection is upward atmospheric motion that
transports whatever is in the air along with it—especially any moisture available in the
air. A thunderstorm is the result of convection.

What is a severe thunderstorm?

A thunderstorm is classified as “severe” when it contains one or more of the following:

hail one inch or greater, winds gusting in excess of 50 knots (57.5 mph), or a tornado.

How many thunderstorms are there?

Worldwide, there are an estimated 16 million thunderstorms each year, and at any given
moment, there are roughly 2,000 thunderstorms in progress. There are about 100,000
thunderstorms each year in the U.S. alone. About 10% of these reach severe levels.

When are thunderstorms most likely?

Thunderstorms are most likely in the spring and summer months and during the
afternoon and evening hours, but they can occur year-round and at all hours.

Along the Gulf Coast and across the southeastern and western states, most
thunderstorms occur during the afternoon. Thunderstorms frequently occur in the late
afternoon and at night in the Plains states.

What kinds of damage can thunderstorms cause?

Many hazardous weather events are associated with thunderstorms. Under the right
conditions, rainfall from thunderstorms causes flash flooding, killing more people each
year than hurricanes, tornadoes or lightning. Lightning is responsible for many fires
around the world each year, and causes fatalities. Hail up to the size of softballs
damages cars and windows, and kills livestock caught out in the open. Strong (up to
more than 120 mph) straight-line winds associated with thunderstorms knock down
trees, power lines and mobile homes. Tornadoes (with winds up to about 300 mph) can
destroy all but the best-built man-made structures.

Where are severe thunderstorms most common?

The greatest severe weather threat in the U.S. extends from Texas to southern
Minnesota. But, no place in the United States is completely safe from the threat of
severe weather.

What is the difference between a Severe Thunderstorm WATCH and a Severe

Thunderstorm WARNING?

A Severe Thunderstorm WATCH is issued by the NOAA Storm Prediction

Centermeteorologists who are watching the weather 24/7 across the entire U.S. for
weather conditions that are favorable for severe thunderstorms. A watch can cover parts
of a state or several states. Watch and prepare for severe weather and stay tuned to
 NOAA Weather Radio to know when warnings are issued.

A Severe Thunderstorm WARNING is issued by your local NOAA National Weather

Service Forecast Office meteorologists who watch a designated area 24/7 for severe
weather that has been reported by spotters or indicated by radar. Warnings mean there
is a serious threat to life and property to those in the path of the storm. ACT now to find
safe shelter! A warning can cover parts of counties or several counties in the path of
danger.

How does a thunderstorm form?

Three basic ingredients are required for a thunderstorm to form: moisture, rising
unstable air (air that keeps rising when given a nudge), and a lifting mechanism to
provide the “nudge.”

The sun heats the surface of the earth, which warms the air above it. If this warm
surface air is forced to rise—hills or mountains, or areas where warm/cold or wet/dry air
bump together can cause rising motion—it will continue to rise as long as it weighs less
and stays warmer than the air around it.

As the air rises, it transfers heat from the surface of the earth to the upper levels of the
atmosphere (the process of convection). The water vapor it contains begins to cool,
releases the heat, condenses and forms a cloud. The cloud eventually grows upward
into areas where the temperature is below freezing.

As a storm rises into freezing air, different types of ice particles can be created from
freezing liquid drops. The ice particles can grow by condensing vapor (like frost) and by
collecting smaller liquid drops that haven't frozen yet (a state called "supercooled").
When two ice particles collide, they usually bounce off each other, but one particle can
rip off a little bit of ice from the other one and grab some electric charge. Lots of these
collisions build up big regions of electric charges to cause a bolt of lightning, which
creates the sound waves we hear as thunder.

The Thunderstorm Life Cycle

Thunderstorms have three stages in their life cycle: The developing stage, the mature
stage, and the dissipating stage. The developing stage of a thunderstorm is marked by a
cumulus cloud that is being pushed upward by a rising column of air (updraft). The
cumulus cloud soon looks like a tower (called towering cumulus) as the updraft
continues to develop. There is little to no rain during this stage but occasional lightning.
The thunderstorm enters the mature stage when the updraft continues to feed the storm,
but precipitation begins to fall out of the storm, creating a downdraft (a column of air
pushing downward). When the downdraft and rain-cooled air spreads out along the
ground it forms a gust front, or a line of gusty winds. The mature stage is the most likely
time for hail, heavy rain, frequent lightning, strong winds, and tornadoes. Eventually, a
 large amount of precipitation is produced and the updraft is overcome by the downdraft
beginning the dissipating stage. At the ground, the gust front moves out a long distance
from the storm and cuts off the warm moist air that was feeding the thunderstorm.
Rainfall decreases in intensity, but lightning remains a danger.

Life cycle of a thunderstorm [+]

What does a thunderstorm look like?

Thunderstorms can look like tall heads of cauliflower or they can have “anvils.” An anvil
is the flat cloud formation at the top of the storm. An anvil forms when the updraft (warm
air rising) has reached a point where the surrounding air is about the same temperature
or even warmer. The cloud growth abruptly stops and flattens out to take the shape of an
anvil.

https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/thunderstorms/