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Question | Answer |
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A huge body of air that has similar temperature, pressure, and humidity throughout. | air mass |
A warm air mass that forms in the tropics and has low air pressure. | tropical (air mass) |
A cold air mass that forms north of 50° north latitude or south of 50° south latitude and has high air pressure. | polar (air mass) |
A humid air mass that forms over oceans | maritime (air mass) |
A dry air mass that forms over land. | continental (air mass) |
The area where air masses meet and do not mix. | front |
Cut off, as the warm air mass at an occluded front is cut off from the ground by cooler air beneath it. | occluded |
A swirling center of low air pressure | cyclone |
A high-pressure center of dry air. | anticyclone |
A violent disturbance in the atmosphere. | storm |
A sudden spark, or energy discharge, caused when electrical charges jump between parts of a cloud or between a cloud and the ground. | lightning |
A rapidly whirling, funnel-shaped cloud that reaches down from a storm cloud to touch Earth's surface, usually leaving a destructive path. | tornado |
A tropical storm that has winds of 119 kilometers per hour or higher; typically about 600 kilometers across. | hurricane |
A dome of water that sweeps across the coast where a hurricane lands. | storm surge |
To move away temporarily. | evacuate |
Scientists who study the causes of weather and try to predict it. | meteorologists |
An abnormal climate event that occurs every 2 to 7 years in the Pacific Ocean, causing changes in winds, currents, and weather patterns that can lead to dramatic climate changes. | El Niño |
Lines on a map joining places that have the same air pressure. | isobars |
The side of mountains that faces the oncoming wind. | windward |
The average, year-after-year conditions of temperature, precipitation, winds, and clouds in an area. | climate |
Lines on a map joining places that have the same temperature. | isotherms |
The downwind side of mountains | leeward |
A sudden, violent flood that occurs within a few hours, or even minutes, of a heavy rainstorm. | flash flood |