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Weather Voc.
Science vocab for Weather & Climate
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Huge body of air that has a similar temperature, humidity, and air pressure at any given height. | Air mass |
| Maritime tropical, continental tropical, maritime polar, and continental polar. | 4 major air masses in North America |
| Cold, dense air has... | Higher air pressure |
| Warm, dense air has... | Lower air pressure |
| Warm air masses, forms in the tropics and have low air pressure | Tropical air masses |
| Cold air masses form North of 50 degrees north latitude and south of 50 degrees south latitude and have high air pressure | Polar air masses |
| Air masses that form over the ocean, can be humid | Maritime air masses |
| Air masses that form over land, usually drier | Continental air masses |
| Warm, humid air masses: hot, humid weather, showers, and thunderstorms in the summer; and heavy rain or snow in the winter. | Maritime tropical |
| Cool, humid air masses: fog, rain, & cool temperatures. | Maritime polar |
| Hot, dry air masses, common in southwest | Continental tropical |
| Clear, Cold, Dry air: in winter, bitterely cold, in summer, mild air | Continental polar |
| Continental polar + Maritime tropical = | Storms |
| Commonly move air masses in the US | Prevailing westerlies and jet streams |
| The boundary where air masses meet | Front |
| Fast moving cold air overtakes a warm air mass; cause abruot weather changes | Cold front |
| A warm air mass overtakes a a slow moving cold air mass; causes rainy or cloudy weather for several days, then warm, humid weather | Warm front |
| Cold and warm air meet, but neither move the other; can cause many days of clouds and precipitation | Stationary fronts |
| Cut off | Occluded |
| Warm air mass is caught between two cooler air masses; cause cooler air, clouds and rain or snow | Occluded fronts |
| A swirling center of low air pressure; Greek meaning "Wheel" | Cyclone |
| High pressure centers swirling outwards | Anticyclones |
| Violent disturbance in atmosphere | Storm |
| Spark, or electrical discharge that jumps between clouds, or clouds and the ground | Lightning |
| The sound of air expanding suddenly and explosively | Thunder |
| Rapidly whirling, funnel shaped cloud | Tornado |
| Caused by weather patterns in the Great Plains | Tornado alley |
| Tropical cyclone with winds of 119km/hr or higher | Hurricane |
| Hurricane begins... | Over warm ocean water as a low air pressure |
| All year round... | Most precipitation starts as snow |
| Happens when cold, dry air that moves across warm lake water becomes more humid | Lake effect snow |
| Meteorologist use... | The directional winds that blow in a region |
| Lines joins places on the map with the same air pressure | Isobars |
| Lines joining places that have the same temperature | Isotherns |
| Sends out radio waves that bounce off particles in the air | Doppler transmitter |
| Condition of atmosphere at a particular time and place; changes every day | Weather |
| Average, year-after-year conditions of temperature, precipitation, winds and clouds in an area | Climate |
| Main factors that influence temperature | Latitude, altitude, distance from water, and ocean currents |
| Summer: sun's rays strike more directly; Winter: sun's rays strike at a lower angle | Temperate Zone |
| In the case of mountains... | Altitude is more important than latitude |
| Ocean Effect on temperature | Greatly moderate or make temperature chnages less extreme |
| Have mild winters and cool summers | Marine climates |
| More extreme: cold winters and warm or hot summers | Continental climates |
| Streams of water within the oceans that move in regular patters | Ocean current |
| Best known warm water current | Gulf stream |
| Gulf stream, after it crosser N. Atlantic; brings mild, humid air | North Atlantic draft |
| Cool current that flows southward | California current |
| Main factors that affect precipitation | Prevailing winds, presences of mountains, and seasonal winds |
| The directional winds that blow in a region | Prevailing winds |
| ...carry more water vapor | Winds that blow inland from oceans or large lakes |
| The side of the mountain where the wind hits, cause rain or snow to fall | Windward |
| Side of the mountain that is downward, in a rain shadow, so little precipitation falls there | Leeward |
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