At a Glance
- Long-time "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek died in early November 2020.
- The last episode recorded with Trebek will air Friday.
- Many challenging weather clues have been used on "Jeopardy!" since 1984.
The last episode of "Jeopardy!" recorded before the death of longtime host Alex Trebek airs Friday.
Trebek died Nov. 8, 2020, at the age of 80 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was the show's only host since its revival in 1984 and set a Guinness World Record for the most episodes by the same host, appearing in more than 8,000.
After being diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in March 2019, Trebek continued to host the show until the season's final episodes were recorded just one week before his death.
Weather and meteorology have occasionally been featured on the show during its 37-year run, and one of the show's most successful contestants also happens to be the current Colorado state climatologist.
"I tried out for the show and got the call in 2003 while I was a graduate student at CSU," wrote Russ Schumacher, also an associate professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University, in a tribute after the passing of Trebek.
Schumacher was a four-day champion in 2003, a Tournament of Champions winner the following year, then a Battle of the Decades semifinalist in 2014.
And, yes, weather was a category in Schumacher's Battle of the Decades episode.
SPONSORED: New figurine discounts at Gambody
"In a way, it was a nightmare," Schumacher told weather.com. "I knew that if I missed anything in that category, I'd never be able to live it down." It turned out Schumacher was correct on four of the five weather clues; Another contestant rang in faster on the other weather clue.
Our Favorite 'Jeopardy!' Weather Answers
As a tribute to Trebek's last episode, with the assistance of the "Jeopardy!" archive, j-archive.com, here are our all-time favorite weather clues.
We'll start with the easier clues, then challenge you with "Double Jeopardy!" before wrapping up with those clues used in "Final Jeopardy!" Scroll to the bottom of the article for the correct questions.
'Jeopardy!' Round Clues
1. Brontophobia is fear of this paired weather phenomenon.
2. In 1979, the names of hurricanes were changed to include these.
3. Though named for snow, it's the driest state in the U.S.
4. TIROS was an experimental prototype for these.
5. This storm's name combines the Chinese words "ta," meaning "great," and "fung," meaning "wind."
'Double Jeopardy!' Round Clues
1. Invented by French scientist Lucien Vidi in 1844, this type of barometer uses a metal capsule instead of mercury.
2. Typhoons, hurricanes and the lows on weather maps are all examples of these atmospheric circulations.
3. For pilots, C and V is this – the height of the lowest cloud layer, "and visibility."
4. A sudden onset of winds increasing by at least 18 mph; it precedes "line" to describe a line of active thunderstorms.
5. Arica, Chile, in this desert may be the driest place on Earth; it had an annual rainfall of only 0.03 inches during a 59-year period.
'Final Jeopardy!' Clues
1. In December 1995, cold weather killed millions of these wintering in Michoacan.
2. Circa 1860, Robert FitzRoy of Britain's meteorological office rejected prediction and prophecy in favor of this word.
3. In the 1940s, an anemometer aided Antarctic experiments that first determined this measurement heard in weather reports.
4. Edward Lorenz's idea of linking this creature to changes in the weather became the basis of chaos theory.
5. The rooster atop many church weather vanes is there to remind us of a story involving this apostle.
Let's put some space between the answers above and the question key below, so you're not tempted to peek.
In February 2019, a weather.com piece was cited in a "Jeopardy!" clue.
The "Jeopardy!" clue crew even paid a visit to The Weather Channel headquarters in Atlanta to tape some clues for a Double "Jeopardy!" round that aired Oct. 22, 2007.
And in 2011, IBM Watson brought cognitive computing to the mainstream by defeating two of the greatest "Jeopardy!" champions of all time, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter (note: weather.com/The Weather Company is an IBM Business).
Let's see how you did. Here are the correct questions to the clues above.
Answer key:
'Jeopardy!' Round
1. What is thunder and lightning?
2. What are men?
3. What is Nevada?
4. What are weather satellites?
5. What is a typhoon?
'Double Jeopardy!' $2,000
1. What is an aneroid barometer?
2. What are cyclones?
3. What is the ceiling?
4. What is a squall?
5. What is the Atacama Desert?
'Final Jeopardy!'
1. What are monarch butterflies?
2. What is forecast?
3. What is wind chill?
4. What is a butterfly?
5. Who is Peter?
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
