Test your weather temperament with this totally terrific "Twister" quiz!

By: Olivia Cantor
Estimated Completion Time
6 min
Test your weather temperament with this totally terrific "Twister" quiz!
Image: tmdb

About This Quiz

Hollywood sure loves disaster films, and 1996’s box-office winner "Twister" is proof. One of the top-grossing films of that year, this disaster film inspired others like it, creating a sub-genre that people really enjoy watching. Challenge yourself with this "Twister" quiz to find out if you are well-prepared — to survive!
In the film's opening scene, a warning for an incoming weather storm was being broadcast on TV. In what form will this storm arrive?
hurricane
tsunami
tornado
A tornado is a natural occurrence that is also considered a storm, given its destructive properties. It’s also called a whirlwind or a twister, hence the title of the film.
blizzard

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In the film’s opening sequence, we see a family of three and their dog run out of their house and into this other structure. What was it?
a storm cellar
The family of three is seen running towards their storm cellar where they lock themselves in until the tornado passes. Since a tornado torments people above ground, they create cellars way, way underground.
a deep well
a cave
a bomb shelter

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The family who took shelter in their storm cellar lost one member that fateful twister night. Who died?
the mom
the dad
The family’s dad was holding onto the storm cellar’s door when it was blown away, with him holding it.
the daughter
the dog

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As that little girl grew up, it is revealed that she is Jo Harding, one of the lead characters of the story. Who played her?
Jodie Foster
Calista Flockhart
Meg Ryan
Helen Hunt
Helen Hunt enjoyed a good career on television as a comedy actress. But she also had dramatic roles in films. Nowadays, she’s still busy acting, and also running her production business.

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What is the formal name of Jo’s occupation?
physicist
chemist
meteorologist
Jo is a certified meteorologist. She studies weather phenomenon in the hopes of making better weather forecasts to prevent disasters.
mathematician

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When Jo was out on the field with her team, Bill Harding visits her. What is her relationship to him?
ex-lover
ex-husband
Bill Harding is Jo’s ex-husband, but they’re still talking — kind of. Bill was played by a real-life Bill — Bill Paxton, who passed away in early 2017.
ex-father
ex-boyfriend

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Bill wasn’t alone when he visited Jo in the field. Who was with him?
his new dog Einstein
his new fiancée Melissa
Bill's new fiancée, Melissa, was with him when he visited Jo during their field work. She was played by Jami Gertz.
his new son Bartholomew
his new boss Scott

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One of Jo’s meteorology team members was named Dusty. Which Academy Award-winning actor portrayed the happy-go-lucky music-loving character?
Anthony Michael Hall
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman was a renowned theater actor who also had offbeat roles in films. He became a respected character actor, playing leads like his Oscar-winning role as Truman Capote in 2005’s "Capote."
Heath Ledger
Christopher Reeve

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One of Jo’s team members had this specific documenting role. What was it?
picture taking
note-taking
video camera recording
It is necessary for the meteorology team members to record their efforts on video. Thus, one of them had that specific task. No matter what happens, roll cam!
audio recording

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Bill went to the field to find Jo, specifically for this reason.
to give back her raincoat
to get her signed divorce papers
Bill just wanted to drop by to get the divorce papers that, hopefully, Jo already signed. Tough luck, though — she hasn’t. Hmm.
to give the crew souvenir umbrellas
to show off his new fiancée

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When Jo saw Bill on the field, it was revealed that she was still doing this, in connection with their past marriage.
wearing her wedding ring
Apparently, Jo still wears her wedding ring, even if she and Bill were already getting divorced. But this might also be the reason why those divorce papers remain unsigned.
stalking him online
sniffing his dirty clothes
collecting pictures of their vacations

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Jo’s objective was to deploy an instrument, which she built from Bill’s former designs, for studying tornadoes more closely. What did they name the device?
Dorothy
It’s ironic—or maybe not—that they name the instrument for tornado detecting after "The Wizard of Oz" character Dorothy, who was blown away by a tornado. It’s a fictionalization of a real-life instrument, named after another Oz character: Toto.
Madonna
Evita
Tallulah

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Bill’s original design of the Dorothy instrument was meant to create a more advanced warning signal for an oncoming tornado. What was their target aim for a better tornado lead time?
from 3min to 9min
from 3min to 6min
from 3 to 15 minutes
Bill, the designer of Dorothy, aims to have a longer lead time to warn people of an incoming tornado. Since the current time is only 3 minutes, Jo helped build Dorothy so they could garner at least 15 minutes of lead time — enough to save people’s lives.
from 3min to 5min

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Since Jo’s meteorology team drives around and follows tornadoes where they will appear, they are also nicknamed this.
Crazy Weatherpeeps
Storm Chasers
The Storm Chasers is how Jo’s team refers to themselves. Apparently, Bill was once a part of this team.
Psycho Babblers
Bat off the Hatters

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Bill and Jo face off with Jonas, a meteorologist opponent who was once their co-worker. Bill described him as having lots of high-end gadgets, but none of this.
smarts
courage
instinct
Jonas indeed has corporate sponsors who are in it for the money, not the science, as Bill says. He knows the guy deeply, as he finds him lacking in instinct, which is also needed if you’re a true-blue meteorologist.
wit

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Jonas had the corporate backing to design his own tornado warning instrument called the DOT 3. But when Bill saw it, he blew his top. Why?
it was super-ugly
it was gold-plated
Jonas’ face is its logo
Jonas stole his Dorothy design
Jonas’ DOT3 design is actually a sleek version of Bill and Jo’s Dorothy instrument, obviously a stolen design from his former co-workers.

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Bill retired from being a Storm Chaser since he filed for divorce from Jo. What is his new occupation?
weatherman
Bill was already enjoying his new career of being a weatherman when he revisited his old Storm Chaser crew. But seeing Jonas steal his Dorothy design, he’s thinking of changing his career options once again… temporarily.
theoretical physicist
quantum mechanic
massage therapist

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Melissa, Bill’s new fiancée, finds all this meteorology field work stressful, since her job is strictly an indoors affair. What is her occupation?
dentist
computer programmer
hairdresser
a reproductive therapist
Who knew that there’s a specific branch of therapy dedicated to reproductive health care?

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Jo was driving a pickup truck where the open carriage at the back carries Dorothy. What color is this truck?
yellow
The first storm Jo chased totaled her yellow truck, along with the first Dorothy model. Not a very sunny state, this business of following tornadoes.
black
green
blue

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When Bill saw two twisters forming in one area, he termed them this.
twinning
sisters
One tornado could later appear with another one close to its proximity, doubling the danger. Bill calls them sisters. Maybe because sisters and twisters rhyme?
brothers
cousins

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The full-on in-your-face encounter with the tornado had Jo and Bill seeing barn animals "flying." What particularly memorable animal flew past them?
a chicken
a cow
It’s not rare for a tornado to bring with it a lot of debris. But a flying cow? Jo thought she saw two, but it’s just one, being tossed around and about. Poor thing!
a dog
a horse

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When Melissa saw how Bill literally chased a tornado with Jo, she had thought he only meant that term in what manner?
as a joke
as a tall tale
as a sarcastic retort
as a metaphor
Poor Melissa. She was shocked to learn that Bill really did chase tornadoes in real life, and he didn’t say that as a mere metaphor.

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This whole business of chasing tornadoes had Jo’s crew staying in this tornado-infested state.
Oklahoma
Jo grew up in Oklahoma, where she lost her dad to a tornado. This is where she also studies them.
California
Alaska
Hawaii

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Jo has an aunt in Wakita, Oklahoma who the storm chasers also refer to as their own Aunt Meg. What part of visiting Aunt Meg in Wakita excites Jo’s crew the most?
the food
The carnivorous and always-hungry storm chasers like visiting Aunt Meg in Wakita from time to time to partake of her food. Not for the vegetarians, though!
her artworks
the chance to sleep in a real bed
homemade lemonade

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Bill has a former nickname for being quite notorious. What is it?
Billy the Kid
Billy the Goat’s Gruff
Billy the Hick
Billy the Extreme
Melissa never knew that her seemingly mild-mannered fiancé was once notoriously called Billy The Extreme. It has something to do with how he challenged a tornado for a “drink” while he was naked. Hide your secrets, Bill!

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Tornadoes have different levels of intensity, F5 being the strongest. The crew referred to them as this.
the devil’s whip
the finger of God
The crew refers to the strongest tornado, the F5, as the finger of God. And only one of them has ever witnessed one up close — Jo, when she was a kid, the one that took away her father.
the angel’s descent
God’s memorandum

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The main objective of the Dorothy instrument is to go near a twister so its sensors could do this.
dissolve the tornado
fly and get inside the tornado funnel
The reason why the crew kept chasing the tornado is for the Dorothy instrument to be taken by it, along with the sensors. Those tiny radio-controlled sensors will have to be inside the funnel to send back signals to the meteorologists. Cool invention, huh!
become mini-tornadoes
pin the tornado down

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While waiting for an incoming tornado, Jo and her crew stop by a small town to rest for the night. There’s a drive-in movie there; what film was it showing for the night?
Pet Cemetery
Christine
The Shining
"The Shining" was playing in the drive-in movie when Jo and Bill suddenly felt something was wrong. It’s that tornado instinct, for sure!
Misery

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Jo and Bill both noticed something was wrong with the weather when this specific disturbance happened.
TV signal interruptions
The first sign of a great weather disturbance could manifest by interrupting TV and radio airwave signals. For Jo and Bill, this is a definite announcement of an incoming tornado.
the drive-in movie went blackout
cars won’t move
windows kept breaking

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Since their second attempt to make "Dorothy fly” failed, Jo later got inspiration for how to make the sensors take off. What kind of improvisation did she do?
put little umbrellas in each sensor
taped aluminum can strips to the sensors
Jo asked her crew to gather all the soda cans they could find, so they could cut up the aluminum cans and use them as light propellers while stuck on each sensor with duct tape. The wind will work with this one, she guessed. Good instinct there, Jo!
shot the sensors with a bazooka
hired a helicopter to drop Dorothy in the funnel

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When Jo declared "I know how to make Dorothy fly” to her crew, she was looking at Aunt Meg's artworks. What kind of artworks were they?
paintings of naked men
brass sculptures
wind chimes
Aunt Meg is fond of displaying her elaborate wind chimes as her artworks. Seeing how the chimes’ movements worked with the wind gave Jo that extra spark of creativity for Dorothy. Atta girl!
chiseled logs

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The ever-cocky Jonas, still out to outdo Jo and Bill in the twister chasing business, ended up in this kind of accident.
his vehicle exploded
What a way for Jonas the braggart to die: his vehicle getting speared by a metallic debris, then lifted up by the twister, then landing and exploding on the ground on impact. Really, no instinct there, this one.
got bumped by a herd of flying cows
he drowned
a house landed on him

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Jo and Bill decided to face off, up close, with the twister, and were successful in making Dorothy fly, along with Bill’s truck, which they were now using. What color was his truck?
blue
black
red
Bill and Jo drove through a cornfield to meet the twister head on, and jumped from the red truck to save their lives. Dorothy finally flew, along with the truck. Achievement unlocked!
white

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This science-based action-packed film’s screenplay was co-written by a novelist-turned-screenwriter, who was also known for writing "Jurassic Park."
John Grisham
Suzanne Collins
Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton’s medical background was reflected in his science-based novels such as "Congo," "The Andromeda Strain," and "Sphere," to name a few. Prior to his death in 2008, he also produced TV shows, such as the medical drama "ER."
JK Rowling

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Twister’s action-packed director also directed the adrenaline-chasing film "Speed." Who is he?
Michael Bay
Clive Barker
Jan de Bont
Jan De Bont actually started his film career as a cinematographer. He is from the Netherlands.
McG

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