5D: Weather Watch Flashcards
What is a cloud made of?
The collection of water vapour, droplets, smoke, dust, and even ice crystals in the sky.
What is the study of weather called?
Meteorology.
What is a Chinook?
A dry, warm strong wind that blows down the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
What is precipitation?
What the moisture that falls out of clouds is called. Can occur in the form of rain, snow, sleet, hail, etc.
Why do we have different seasons?
Because of the earth’s position in relation to the sun causing each area of earth to receive different amounts of sun at different times of the year.
What is a Beaufort Wind Scale?
It’s is a system of estimating and reporting wind speeds based the visible effects upon land objects and/or sea surfaces.
A measure of the amount of moisture in the air relative to the amount the air can possibly hold at that temperature; expressed as a percentage, is called what?
Relative Humidity.
What is hail?
A form of precipitation that is round or irregular lumps of ice formed by movement of ice through various levels of the atmosphere.
What does an anemometer measure?
It measures the wind speed in km/h.
What is the Greenhouse Effect?
The heating effect of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Super cooled rain that freezes onto cold surfaces upon contact, is what?
Sleet.
What is an avalanche?
A large amount of of snow, ice, or rock etc.., that slides down a mountain.
What is weather?
The condition of the atmosphere with respect to heat/cold, wetness/dryness, and clearness/cloudiness at the exact moment.
Can change day to day, or even hourly.
What is a tornado?
A funnel cloud with spinning columns of air dropping down from a severe thunderstorm to touch the ground and cause severe damage.
What is a wind vane?
An instrument that measures the direction of wind. (N,E,S,W)
What does a barometer measure?
Air pressure, measured in kilo-pascals.
What is an overcast?
When a widespread layer of clouds covers all of the sky; may be thin or bright spots in the cloud layer, but no openings.
What weather usually comes with nimbus clouds?
Snow or rain/thunderstorm.
What is a nimbostratus cloud?
A low rain cloud.
What is the water cycle? What are 4 key stages?
The continuous cycle that water follows including evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and run-off.
What is it called when a liquid changes into a gas via heating?
Evaporation.
What does condense mean?
When a gas is turned into a liquid by heating.
What is a forecast?
An estimate of future weather.
What is fog?
A very low stratus cloud.
When heavy rain, or melting snow causes rivers to rise and go over their banks, what is it called?
A flood.
What weather do cumulonimbus(vertical) clouds often bring?
Rain, hail, lightning and thundering.
This form of precipitation is cold, made of ice crystals, and is white, what is it?
Snow.
What is saturated air?
Air that holds as much moisture that is possible for the temperature.
What is climate?
The overall average temperature, rainfall, etc, for a specific place.
An instrument that measures snow in centimeters is called what?
A snow gauge.
What does a psychrometer measure?
Humidity.
What is a high pressure system?
A whirling mass of cool, dry air that generally brings fair weather and light winds; when viewed from above, winds spiral out of a high pressure center in a clockwise rotation in the Northern Hemisphere; bring sunny skies.
What is temperature?
Measurement of how hot or cold something is. Temperature is measured in degrees Fahrenheit or Celsius.
When intense storms with swirling winds, rain and thunder happen, what is most likely taking place?
A hurricane.
What is humidity?
The measure of the amount of moisture in the air.
What is a low pressure system?
A whirling mass of warm, moist air that generally brings stormy and windy weather; when viewed from above, winds spiral in a counterclockwise rotation in the Northern Hemisphere.
What is thunder?
The explosive sound of air expanding as it is heated by lightning.
What is air mass?
A large area of air with mostly the same temperature and moisture throughout all of it.
What is a drought?
A serious shortage of precipitation.
What is a jet stream?
A strong, high level wind found in the atmosphere that often steer the movement of surface air masses and weather systems.
A current of cold air into a room through an opening, such as a window or a door, is what?
A draft.
What is rain?
A form of liquid precipitation, caused by the condensation of water droplets inside of clouds.
What does partly cloudy mean?
Clouds partially covering the sun and sky.
What is a breeze?
A light wind.
What is a drizzle?
Very fine rain consisting of drops less than 0.5 mm in diameter.
What is el nino?
In Spanish, “The Boy”. In English, the unusual warming of the surface waters of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean; causing changes in wind patterns that have major effects on weather all across the globe.
What is air pressure?
The force that is applied on everything on earth caused by the weight of the air.
What is dew?
Water that forms on objects close to the ground when the temperature falls below the dew point of the surface air.
What is a rain gauge?
An instrument used to measure the amount of rain that has fallen in millimeters(mm).
What is wind?
The movement of air along the ground.
What is a thermometer?
An instrument used to measure how hot or cold something is.
What is a cumulus cloud?
A fluffy, mid-level clouds that develop in towering shapes and signal fair weather.
What is wind chill?
A calculated measure of the chilling effect experienced by the human body when strong winds are combined with freezing temperature.
What is global warming?
The theory that increased concentrations of greenhouse gases are causing the Earth’s surface temperature to warm.
What is dew point?
The temperature at which the water vapor in the air condenses out into droplets of water forming precipitation.
What is a contrail?
A long, narrow, ice crystal cloud that form behind jet planes flying high in below-freezing temperatures.
What is frost?
White crystals that form on a surface when the air temperature drops below freezing.
What is lightning?
An enormous and very hot spark of electricity produced by thunderstorms.
What is climate change?
A change in global or regional climate patterns.
