Weather Flashcards
Humidity
a quantity representing the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere or in a gas.
Cumulus Cloud
detached, individual, cauliflower-shaped clouds usually spotted in fair weather conditions.
Stratus Cloud
low-level layers with a fairly uniform grey or white colour.
Cirrus Cloud
short, detached, hair-like clouds found at high altitudes
Cumulonimbus Cloud
menacing looking multi-level clouds, extending high into the sky in towers or plumes.
Condensation
water which collects as droplets on a cold surface when humid air is in contact with it.
Evaporation
the process by which water changes from a liquid to a gas or vapor.
Precipitation
the action or process of precipitating a substance from a solution.
Runoff
a further competition, election, race, etc., after a tie or inconclusive result.
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 – Maritime Airmass
Polar maritime is the most common air mass to affect the British Isles.
Tropical – Maritime Airmass
Tropical maritime air is warm and moist in its lowest layers
Polar – Continental Airmass
Continental polar (cP) or continental arctic (cA) air masses are cold, dry, and stable.
Tropical – Continental Airmass
Continental Tropical air masses (cT) are a type of tropical air produced by the subtropical ridge over large areas of land and typically originate from low-latitude deserts such as the Sahara Desert in northern Africa
Cold Front
A cold weather front is defined as the changeover region where a cold air mass is replacing a warmer air mass.
Warm Front
A warm front is the boundary between a mass of warm air and a retreating mass of cold air.
Thunderstorm
a storm with thunder and lightning and typically also heavy rain or hail.
Lightning
Lightning is a giant spark of electricity in the atmosphere between clouds, the air, or the ground.
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.
