Question |
Answer |
What is an "air mass"? |
A hugh body of air that has similar temperature, humidity, and air pressure throughout it |
Air masses are "classified" or group by what properties? |
Temperature and Humidity are used to classify air masses. |
Tropical, or warm means? |
Tropical air masses are warm, air masses that form in the tropics and have low air pressure. |
Polar, or cold means? |
Polar air masses are cold, air masses from north of 50 degrees latitude and south of 50 degrees latitude and have "high" air pressure. |
Maritime, or over water means? |
Maritime air masses form over oceans and are humid |
Continental, or over land means? |
Continental air masses form over land, in the middle of continents, and are dry. |
What are the four major types of air masses that influence the weather in North America? Hint: Over Water and Over Land |
Maritime tropical, continental tropical, maritime polar, and continental polar. |
What do Maritime Tropical (over water) air masses from the Gulf of Mexico? |
They bring warm, humid air to the Eastern US |
What do Maritime Tropical (over water) air masses from the Pacific Ocean bring to the West Coast(California)? |
Maritime Tropical air masses from the Pacific Ocean bring: warm, humid air to the West Coast/California. |
Continental Tropical(over land, humid) air masses from the Southwest bring? |
Continental Tropical air masses bring hot dry air to the Southern Great Plains. |
Continental Polar(over land, cold) air masses from the central and northern Canada bring? |
Continental Polar air masses from Canada bring cold air to the central and eastern US. |
Maritime Polar (over water, cold) air masses occur where? |
Maritime Polar air masses from the Atlantic Ocean are pushed out to sea/ocean by westerly blowing winds. |
What does "prevailing westerlies" mean? |
Prevailing Westerly winds are winds that blow across the United States from West(California) to the East (New York) |
As air masses move across the land and oceans they bump into each other. If they have different temperatures and densities, do they mix? |
No, they do not mix. They create a rain storm or wind storm or other storm. This is called a "front". |
What are the four major types of fronts? |
Cold Front, Warm Front, Stationary Front, and Occluded Fronts. |
What is a cold front? |
It is when cold air moves underneath warm air, forcing the warm air to rise. |
Do cold fronts move quickly or slowly? What type of air does a cold front bring? |
Cold fronts move quickly. Cold fronts bring cold dry air. |
When does a warm front develop? |
A warm front develops when warm air moves over cold air. |
Do warm fronts move quickly or slowly? What type of air does a warm front bring? |
A warm front moves slowly. A warm front brings warm humid air. |
What is a stationary front? Hint: Stand Still. |
A stationary front forms when cold and warm air masses meet but neither one has enough force to push the other one. They just sit there and become stationary. Don't move. |
What does "occluded" mean? |
Occluded is when a warm air mass is cut off from the ground. It usually causes clouds and precipitation(rain or snow) to occur. |
What is a swirling center of low air pressure called? Hint: Brooklyn cyc…. |
A swirling center o flow air pressure is called a "cyclone. |
What is another name for a Cyclone? |
Cyclones are also called: "lows" because of the low air pressure. |
Cyclones and decreasing air pressure are associated with? |
Cyclones and decreasing air pressure are associated with storms and precipitation. |
What are "Anticyclones"? |
Anti-cyclones are high pressure centers of dry air |
What is another name for "Anticyclones"? |
another name for Anti-cyclones are "highs" because of the high air pressure. |
Anticyclones lead to what type of weather? |
Anticyclones lead to dry, clear weather. |
What direction do winds spin in the Northern Hemisphere? |
In the Northern Hemisphere winds spin in a counter clockwise direction in a cyclone and clockwise in an "anticyclone". |