Term | Definition |
Weather | The condition of Earth's atmosphere at a particular time and place. |
Meteorologists | Scientists who study the causes of weather and try to predict it. |
Forecast | A prediction of what the weather will be in the future. |
Temperature | The average amount of energy of motion in the molecules of a substance. |
Convection | The transfer of heat by movements of a fluid. |
Humidity | A measure of the amount of water vapor in the air. |
Relative Humidity | The percentage of water vapor in the air compared to the maximum amount of air can hold at that temperature. |
Wind | The horizontal movement of air from an area of high pressure to an area of lower pressure. |
Cumulus | Clouds that form less than 2 kilometers above the ground and look like fluffy,rounded piles of cotton. |
Stratus | Clouds that form in flat layers. |
Cirrus | Wispy,feathery clouds made mostly of ice crystals that form at high levels, above about 6 kilometers. |
Thermometer | An instrument used to measure temperature, consisting of a thin,glass tube with a bulb on one end that contains a liquid. |
Anemometer | An instrument used to measure wind speed. |
Psychrometer | An instrument used tomeasure relative humidity, consisting of a wet-bulb thermometer and a dry-bulb thermometer. |
Air mass | A huge body of air that has similiar temperature,pressure, and humidity throughout. |
Front | The area where air masses meet and do not mix. |
Cold front | When a cold air mass pushes against a warm air mass. |
Warm front | When a warm air mass pushes against a cold air mass. |
Tornado | A rapidly whirling,funnel-shaped cloud that reaches down from a storm cloud to touch Earth's surface, usually leaving a destructive path. |
Hurricane | A tropical storm that has winds of 119km per hour or higher; typically about 600km across. |