A free interactive reading comprehension for Year 5 KS2 pupils about extreme weather events around the world. Read the passage, then answer comprehension questions, match vocabulary, practise grammar and complete a creative writing task.
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Read the passage carefully. You may look back at it at any time.
1Weather affects every living thing on Earth, but some weather events are so powerful and destructive that they are described as extreme. Extreme weather includes hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, droughts and heatwaves. These events can damage buildings, destroy crops, flood towns and put lives at risk. Scientists who study weather, called meteorologists, work hard to predict when and where extreme weather will strike so that people can prepare and stay safe.
2A hurricane is one of the most powerful weather events on the planet. It forms over warm tropical ocean water when hot, moist air rises rapidly and begins to spin. As more warm air rushes in to replace it, the spinning grows faster and a huge rotating storm develops. Hurricanes can be hundreds of kilometres wide and bring fierce winds, torrential rain and enormous waves that flood coastal areas. They weaken once they move over land, because they are cut off from the warm water that fuels them.
3While hurricanes are vast, tornadoes are small but terrifyingly intense. A tornado is a rapidly spinning column of air that stretches from a storm cloud down to the ground. They can appear with very little warning and last only a few minutes, yet in that short time they are capable of tearing roofs off buildings, uprooting trees and lifting cars into the air. The area where tornadoes occur most frequently in the United States is nicknamed Tornado Alley because of the large number that strike there each year.
4At the opposite extreme, some parts of the world suffer from too little water rather than too much. A drought occurs when an area receives far less rainfall than usual over a long period. Rivers dry up, soil becomes cracked and hard, and crops fail. Animals struggle to find water and people may face serious shortages of food and drinking water. Droughts can last for months or years, and they often affect the poorest communities most severely because those people have fewer resources to cope.
5Heatwaves are another form of extreme weather that can be dangerous even though they involve no wind or rain. A heatwave occurs when temperatures stay unusually high for several days or more. Elderly people, young children and those with health conditions are particularly vulnerable. Cities are often hotter than the surrounding countryside during a heatwave because buildings and roads absorb and store heat. Scientists have found that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent as global temperatures rise, making it more important than ever to understand and prepare for them.
Statement A: Tornadoes are wider than hurricanes and last much longer.
Statement B: Scientists have found that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent as global temperatures rise.
Match each word from the passage to its correct meaning. Click a word, then click its definition.