weather Flashcards
humidity
a quantity representing the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere or in a gas.
cumulus cloud
Cumulus clouds are clouds which have flat bases and are often described as “puffy”, “cotton-like” or “fluffy” in appearance. Their name derives from the Latin cumulo-, meaning heap or pile
startus cloud
Stratus clouds are low-level clouds characterized by horizontal layering with a uniform base, as opposed to convective or cumuliform clouds that are formed by rising thermals
cirrus cloud
Cirrus is a genus of high cloud made of ice crystals. Cirrus clouds typically appear delicate and wispy with white strands
cumulonimbus cloud
A cumulonimbus is a dense, towering vertical cloud, forming from water vapor carried by powerful upward air currents
condensation
water which collects as droplets on a cold surface when humid air is in contact with it.
evaportaion
the process of turning from liquid into vapor.
precipitation
rain, snow, sleet, or hail that falls to the ground.
runoff
the draining away of water (or substances carried in it) from the surface of an area of land, a building or structure, etc.
rain
moisture condensed from the atmosphere that falls visibly in separate drops
sleet
a form of precipitation consisting of ice pellets, often mixed with rain or snow.
snow
atmospheric water vapor frozen into ice crystals and falling in light white flakes or lying on the ground as a white layer
hail
pellets of frozen rain which fall in showers from cumulonimbus clouds.
polar maririme airmass
polar air mass, air mass that forms over land or water in the higher latitudes.
tropical maritime air mass
Tropical air masses are warm or even hot, as they form within 25 degrees latitude of the equator
Continental polar air mass
Continental polar (cP) or continental arctic (cA) air masses are cold, dry, and stable. These air masses originate over northern Canada and Alaska as a result of radiational cooling. They move southward, east of the Rockies into the Plains, then eastward.
continental tropical air mass
Continental tropical (cT) air masses are hot, dry, unstable at low levels and generally stable aloft (upper-level ridge) Continental tropical air masses originate in northern Mexico.
cold front
the boundary of an advancing mass of cold air, in particular the trailing edge of the warm sector of a low-pressure system.
warm front
the boundary of an advancing mass of warm air, in particular the leading edge of the warm sector of a low-pressure system.
lightning
the occurrence of a natural electrical discharge of very short duration and high voltage between a cloud and the ground or within a cloud, accompanied by a bright flash and typically also thunder.
thunder
a loud rumbling or crashing noise heard after a lightning flash due to the expansion of rapidly heated air.
tornado
a mobile, destructive vortex of violently rotating winds having the appearance of a funnel-shaped cloud and advancing beneath a large storm system.
hurricane
a storm with a violent wind, in particular a tropical cyclone in the Caribbean.
thermometer
an instrument for measuring and indicating temperature, typically one consisting of a narrow, hermetically sealed glass tube marked with graduations and having at one end a bulb containing mercury or alcohol that expands and contracts in the tube with heating and cooling.
anemometer
an instrument for measuring the speed of the wind, or of any current of gas.
