Weather: Chapter 3, Section 1: Air Masses and Fronts; Chapter 3, Sections 2 & 3: Storms/Weather Pred

Huge body of air that has similar temperature, humidity, and air pressure throughout it

• 1. Tropical
• 2. Polar
• 3. Maritime
• 4. Continental

Warm air mass that form in the tropics and have low air pressure

Cold air mass that form north of 50 degrees north latitude and 50 degrees south latitude

Air masses that form over oceans

Air masses that form over land

Warm, humid air masses that form over oceans near the tropics

Cool air masses that form over the icy cold North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans

Hot, dry air masses that form only in summer over dry areas of the southwest and Northern Mexico

Air masses that form over central and Northern Canada or Alaska that bring cold air

• 1. Prevailing Westerlies
• 2. Jet Streams

The area where air masses meet and do not meet

• 1. Cold Front
• 2. Warm Front
• 3. Stationary Front
• 4. Occluded Front

Where rapid moving cold air masses runs into slow moving warm air masses causes abrupt weather changes

A moving warm air mass that collides with a slow moving cold air mass

When two air masses meet in a "stand-off"

When a warm air mass is caught between two colder air masses

A swirling center of low air pressure from a Greek word meaning "wheel"

• 1. Clouds
• 2. Wind
• 3. Precipitation

High pressure centers of dry air

Dry, clear weather

A violent disturbance in the atmosphere involving sudden changes in the air pressure

Heavy rainstorm accompanied by thunder and lightning

Inside cumulonimbus clouds, or thunderheads

A sudden spark, or energy discharge, jumping from cloud to cloud to the ground

• 1. Avoid toughing metal objects
• 2. Stay away from open spaces
• 3. Do not touch electrical appliances or plumbing fixtures

A rapid, whirling, funnel-shaped cloud that reaches down from a storm to touch Earth's surface

Develop in low, heavy cumulonimbus clouds the same clouds that bring thunderstorms

Weather patterns often occurring in a certain USA region

The basement of a well-built structure

A tropical storm that has wings up to 119 km per hour or higher

Over warm water as a low pressure area, or tropical disturbance

A dome of water that sweeps across the coast where the hurricane lands causing great damage

Move away temporarily

1. If you are given a warning to evacuate leave area immediately

2. Move away from interior of buildings and windows

As cold dry air masses move across the warmer water, it becomes more humid as water vapor evaporates from the lake surface. When air reaches land and cools, lake-effect snow falls

Try to find shelter from the wind

A scientist that studies the causes of the weather and tries to predict it

Use maps, charts, computers to analyze data and to prepare weather forecasts

Technology has improved accuracy in wether forecasts

A snapshot of conditions at a particular time over a large area

Lines joining places on the map that have the same air pressure

Lines joining places that have the same temperature

Maps in newspapers that are simplified versions of weather produced by the National Weather Service

• 1. Fronts
• 2. Areas of high and low pressure
• 3. Types of precipitation
• 4. Temperature

Scientists' suggest that even a small change in the weather today, like the flapping of a butterfly's wings, can mean a larger change in the atmosphere or in the weather in the next week