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Weather
Term | Definition |
---|---|
latitude | geographic coordinate that specifies the north or south of the Equator |
longitude | distance measure in degrees east or west from an imaginary line passing through the poles |
hemisphere | a half of the earth, usually divided into northern and southern halves by the equator, or into western and eastern halves by an imaginary line passing through the poles |
atmosphere | the envelope of gasses surrounding the earth |
weather | the state of the atmosphere at a place and time as regards heat, dryness, sunshine, wind, and precipitation |
climate | the average weather conditions in an area over a long period |
polar | of or relating to a geographical pole or the region around it |
continental | land |
maritime | ocean |
Rain | water droplets dropping down to the ground |
Snow | water vapor frozen into ice crystals and falling in light white flakes or lying on the ground as a white layer |
Freezing Rain | Rain freezing on impact on the ground |
Hail | pellets of frozen rain which fall in showers from cumulonimbus clouds |
Sleet | form of precipitation with ice pellets |
Rain Gauge | a weather instrument that measures rainfall |
Clouds | water vapor too cold and get together |
Condensation | water vapor getting too cold and turn into clouds |
Cirrus Clouds | White wispy clouds that form at high altitudes and are always made of ice crystals |
Hygrometer | used to determine the amount of water vapor in the air |
Map | a flat, 2-dimensional drawing of land and water |
globe | a spherical scale model of the Earth |
Cumulonimbus | a huge vertical cloud that can produce a thunderstorm |
Cirrocumulus | clouds that bring fair weather |
Stratocumulus climate | clouds producing steady rain or snow |
Cirrostratus | clouds that bring persistent rain within a day |
Nimbostratus | clouds that bring long days of rain |
Wind | movement of air from high pressure to low pressure |
Anemometer | used to measure wind speed |
Wind vane | used to measure wind direction |
Coriolis Effect | the apparent deflection of moving objects as observed from a rotating frame of reference due to the force created by the rotating frame |
Trade winds | a wind or wind system in the tropics and subtropics that blows steadily toward the equator |
Prevailing westerlies | winds go from west to the east in the middle latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees latitude |
Polar easterlies | cold winds that blow from the northeast toward the southwest |
Global winds | large air masses from the earth's rotation, shape of the earth, and the suns heat |
Land breeze | breeze blowing toward the sea at night |
Sea breeze | breeze blowing toward the land at daytime |
Air Pressure | weight of the air pushing on everything around it |
Barometer | a weather instrument that measures air pressure |
Low Pressure | a mass of warm, moist, rising air |
High Pressure | a mass of cool, dry air |
Cold Front | Cold air mass runs into warm air mass and passes it up |
Warm Front | Warm air mass overtakes a cool air mass |
Stationary Front | a boundary between two different air masses, neither of which is strong enough to replace the other |
Occluded Front | A slower moving warm front is followed by a more rapidly moving cold front and the cold front eventually overtakes the warm front |
El NiƱo | unusually warm ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific |
Hurricanes | a storm with a violent wind, usually in tropical places |
Gulf Stream | A warm water surface which affects water temperatures |
Jet Stream | Warm air masses meet cold air masses and generally blow from west to east |
La Nino | Unusually cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific |
Wind | the movement of air, caused by the uneven heating of the Earth |