ch. 13 weather patterns
Terms
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- air mass
- A huge body of air that has similar temperature, pressure, and humidity throughout.
- tropical (air mass)
- A warm air mass that forms in the tropics and has low air pressure.
- polar (air mass)
- A cold air mass that forms north of the 50 degree north latitude or south of the 50 degree south latitude and has high air pressure.
- maritime (air mass)
- A humid air mass that forms over oceans.
- continental (air mass)
- A dry air mass that forms over land.
- front
- The area where air masses meet and do not mix.
- occluded
- Cut off, as the warm air at an occluded front is cut off from the ground by cooler air beneath it.
- cyclone
- A swirling center of low air pressure.
- anticyclone
- A high-pressure center of dry air.
- storm
- A violent disturbance in the atmosphere.
- lightning
- A sudden spark, or energy discharge, caused when electrical charges jump between parts of a cloud or between a cloud and the ground.
- 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 119 kilometer per hour or higher; typically about 600 kilometers across.
- storm surge
- A dome of water that sweeps across the coast where a hurricane lands.
- evacuate
- To move away temporarily.
- flash flood
- A sudden, violent flood that occurs within a few hours, or even minutes of a heavy rainstorm.
- meteorologist
- Scientists who study the causes of weather and try to predict it.
- El Nino
- An event that occurs every 2 to 7 years in the Pacific Ocean, during which winds shift and push warm surface water toward the coast of South America; it can cause dramatic climate changes.
- isobars
- Lines on a map joining places that have the same air pressure.
- isotherms
- Lines on a map joining places that have the same temperature.