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Private Checkride Guide > Weather > Flashcards

Weather Flashcards

1
Q

What is the atmosphere?

A

The atmosphere is a mixture of gases that surrounds the earth. It provides us with air to breathe, it acts as a shield to protect us from the harmful sun’s UV rays, it regulates the earth’s temperature, etc.

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2
Q

How is the atmosphere composed?

A

The atmosphere is composed of several gases but mostly nitrogen and oxygen.
Nitrogen 78%
Oxygen 21%
Trace gases 1%

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3
Q

What happens to the warm air and cold air in the atmosphere in relation to it’s motion?

A

Hot air rises and cool air takes over.

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4
Q

What is the Coriolis effect?

A

The Coriolis effect is the phenomenon that causes fluids like water or air to curve as they travel across or above the Earth’s surface.

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5
Q

How do High and Low pressure areas act in both the northern and southern hemisphere?

A

In the northern hemisphere the high pressure systems move to the right (clockwise) and low pressure systems move to the left (counterclockwise), while in the southern hemisphere it’s the opposite, high pressure systems move to the left (counterclockwise) and low pressure systems move to the right (clockwise)

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6
Q

How are high pressure and low pressure areas associated?

A

High pressure areas are associated with much more stable air, clear skies, good weather. Low pressure areas in the other hand are associated with less stability in the air, clouds and precipitation, and also storms.

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7
Q

What is a front?

A

A front is a boundary where two different air masses meet. These air masses have different temperatures and humidity levels. When they come together, they can cause changes in the weather, such as rain, clouds, or changes in temperature.

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8
Q

What are the 4 types of fronts?

A
  • Cold front
  • Warm front
  • Stationary front
  • Occluded front
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9
Q

Explain a warm front

A

A warm front occurs when a warm air mass advances and replaces a colder body of air, covering the cold air from the top and forcing the cold air out below. This type of front moves relatively slowly, about 10-15 mph. Generally they have high humidity and because the air is forced upward stratiform and cirrus clouds can be expected.

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10
Q

Explain a cold front

A

Cold fronts occur the opposite way as the warm front, colder air at the surface forcing the warmer air up and away as the front passes. Cold fronts typically move at about 25-30 mph. Depending on the intensity of the cold front, cumulonimbus clouds can be expected with the possibility of lightning and thunders, hail, and tornadoes.

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11
Q

Explain stationary fronts

A

A stationary front is a type of weather front where two air masses, one warm and one cold, meet but neither is strong enough to replace the other. This results in the front remaining in place for an extended period. Stationary fronts often bring prolonged and steady precipitation, such as light to moderate rain or drizzle. The precipitation can last for several hours to days, depending on how long the front remains stationary. The weather is typically cloudy with overcast skies. Clouds often associated with stationary fronts include stratus and nimbostratus

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12
Q

Explain occluded fronts

A

An occluded front is a weather phenomenon that occurs when a cold front catches up with a warm front, lifting the warm air mass off the ground. The two types of occluded front are cold occlusion and warm oclussion.

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13
Q

What is a squall line?

A

A squall line is a type of weather phenomenon associated with a line of severe thunderstorms that typically forms along or ahead of a cold front.

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14
Q

What is dewpoint?

A

The dew point is the temperature at which air becomes saturated with moisture and water vapor begins to condense into liquid water

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15
Q

What is pressure altitude?

A

Pressure altitude is true altitude corrected for non standard pressure.

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16
Q

What is density altitude?

A

Density altitude is pressure altitude corrected for non standard temperature.

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17
Q

What is fog?

A

Fog is a low level cloud. Is condition where visibility is significantly reduced due to the presence of tiny water droplets suspended in the air near the ground. Fog has it’s base within 50ft of the surface.

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18
Q

When does fog usually form?

A

Fog forms when temperature matches dewpoint.

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19
Q

What are the different types of fog?

A
  • Radiation fog
  • Advection fog
  • Upslope fog
  • Steam fog
  • Ice/ Freezing fog
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20
Q

What are some weather phenomenons that occur when air becomes saturated?

A
  • Dew
  • Frost
  • Fog
  • Clouds
  • Rain
  • Snow
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21
Q

What is a thunderstorm and what are the three ingredients of a thunderstorm?

A

A thunderstorm is a weather event that involves lightning, thunder, heavy rain, and often strong winds. The three ingredients of a thunderstorm are:

  • Lifting action
  • Unstable atmosphere
  • Moisture
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22
Q

How do thunderstorms create?

A

Thunderstorms forms when warm, moist air rises rapidly, cools, and creates tall clouds called cumulonimbus clouds.

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23
Q

What is windshear?

A

Wind shear is a change in wind speed and direction over a short distance, it can occur either horizontally or vertically.

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24
Q

What is turbulence?

A

Turbulence is a sudden change in air flow that causes the airplane to change it’s attitude, altitude and direction.

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25
Q

What are four different types of turbulence?

A
  • Thermal turbulence
  • Wake turbulence
  • Mechanical turbulence
  • Clear turbulence
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26
Q

What are the three types of aircraft icing?

A
  • Clear Ice
  • Rime Ice
  • Mixed Ice
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27
Q

Explain clear ice

A

This type of ice forms when supercooled liquid droplets freeze slowly, creating a smooth, transparent layer of ice.

28
Q

Explain rime ice

A

Rime ice forms when supercooled water droplets freeze rapidly upon contact with the aircraft, creating a rough, white, and opaque layer of ice.

29
Q

Explain mixed ice

A

Mixed ice is a combination of clear and rime ice, resulting from varying cloud conditions with both large and small supercooled water droplets.

30
Q

How much does air pressure decrease with altitude?

A

Air pressure decreases with altitude by approximately 1 inch per 1,000ft

31
Q

How is the airplane performance affected with high density altitude?

A

High density altitude, which occurs when the air is less dense due to high elevation or high temperatures, can significantly affect aircraft performance by a reduced engine performance due to the reduced amount of air molecules, reduced lift generated by the wings due to the less air available, longer takeoff and landing distances.

32
Q

What are the phases of matter?

A
33
Q

What causes air movement?

A

Air movement in the atmosphere is primarily caused by differences in air pressure, which result from uneven heating of the Earth’s surface.

  • Air movement results from unequal heating of the earth’s surface.
  • Air moves from high pressure to low pressure, warm air is less dense so it rises and cold air is more dense so it sinks.
  • Air movement bends due to Coriolis Effect.
  • Air movement slows at the earth’s surface due to friction.
34
Q

When do clouds appear?

A

Clouds appear when moist air rises, cools, and reaches its dew point, causing the water vapor to condense into tiny water droplets or ice crystals.

35
Q

How are clouds classified and what are the types of clouds?

A
36
Q

What are lenticular clouds?

A

Lenticular clouds are lens-shaped clouds that form over mountainous or hilly terrain. This are created by air flowing over mountains or ridges, causing the air to rise and create a stationary wave pattern. They are often associated with strong turbulence and updrafts or downdrafts in the vicinity.

37
Q

What are isobars?

A

Isobars are lines drawn on weather maps that connect points with the same air pressure. When isobars are close together, strong wings can be expected.

38
Q

What is frost?

A

Frost is the formation of ice crystals on surfaces when the temperature falls below the freezing point of water (32°F or 0°C), causing moisture in the air to condense and freeze.

39
Q

What are the three stages of a thunderstorm?

A
  • Cumulus stage
  • Mature stage
  • Dissipating stage
40
Q

Explain the cumulus stage of a thunderstorm

A

This the initial stage of a thunderstorm. It begins with the development of cumulus clouds, which form as warm, moist air that rises and cools. Updrafts cause the cloud to grow vertically. At this stage, the storm is relatively calm with light precipitation.

41
Q

Explain the mature stage of a thunderstorm

A

In this stage, the thunderstorm is fully developed. The cloud reaches its peak height, forming a cumulonimbus cloud. This stage is characterized by strong updrafts and downdrafts, heavy rainfall, thunder, lightning, and possibly hail.

42
Q

What is hail?

A

Hail is a type of precipitation consisting of solid ice that forms inside thunderstorm updrafts and falls to the surface as ice balls.

43
Q

How does hail form?

A

Hailstones are formed when raindrops are carried upward by thunderstorm updrafts into extremely cold areas of the atmosphere and freeze. Hailstones then grow by colliding with liquid water drops that freeze onto the hailstone’s surface.

44
Q

What are microburst?

A

A microburst is a localized, intense downdraft within a thunderstorm that causes a sudden, powerful outflow of air to spread out horizontally when it hits the ground. They typically last about 5-15 minutes.

45
Q

When can windshear be expected in a cold front?

A

In cold fronts critical wind shear happens after

46
Q

When can windshear be expected in a warm front?

A

In warm front critical wind shear happens before

47
Q

What are some characteristics of stable air?

A
  • Stratiform clouds
  • Steady precipitation
  • Smooth air
  • Poor visibility
48
Q

What are some characteristics of unstable air?

A
  • Cumuliform clouds
  • Showery precipitation
  • Turbulent air
  • Good visibility
49
Q

What is a METAR and how often does it update?

A

METAR is a standardized weather report that provides essential information about current weather conditions at an airport. This report provides information like temperature and dew point, wind, visibility, weather conditions, cloud cover, barometric pressure and density altitude. It usually updates every hour or every significant change in weather.

50
Q

What is a TAF and how often is it updated?

A

A TAF (Terminal Aerodrome Forecast) is a weather forecast specifically for the area around an airport. TAFs offer forecasts of expected weather over a specified period.

TAFs are usually issued four times a day, every six hours, at set times: 0000Z, 0600Z, 1200Z, and 1800Z (Zulu time).
but they can also update on significant changes.

51
Q

What is a SPECI?

A

SPECI stands for Special Meteorological Report, which is an unscheduled aviation weather report issued when there is a significant change in weather conditions between hourly reports.

52
Q

How will frost on the wings of an airplane affect takeoff performance?

A

Frost will disrupt the smooth flow of air over the wing, adversely affecting its lifting capability.

53
Q

What is a Convective SIGMET?

A

A Convective SIGMET is a specialized weather advisory issued to provide information about severe convective weather.

Convective SIGMETs are issued for:

  • Embedded thunderstorms
  • A line of thunderstorms
  • Thunderstorms with heavy precipitation affecting 40%+ of an area at least 3,000 square miles
  • Surface winds 50+ knots due to severe thunderstorm
  • Hail 3/4+ inches in diameter
  • Tornadoes
54
Q

How long are AIRMETS and SIGMETS valid for?

A

AIRMETS are typically valid for 6 hours
SIGMETS are typically valid for 4 hours

55
Q

What other information besides weather does the ATIS provide?

A

ATIS just doesn’t provide weather information but also airport information like active runways, NOTAMs, available instrument approaches, and other crucial details.

56
Q

Does the AWOS or ASOS provide any airport information as the ATIS?

A

No, ASOS and AWOS are purely weather-focused.

57
Q

What is AWOS?

A

AWOS is an automated system that measures and broadcasts current weather data.

58
Q

How often do AWOS reports update?

A

AWOS reports report every minute.

59
Q

What is ASOS?

A

Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) is an automated system that provides information about weather, it is more advanced than AWOS and updates typically every minute.

60
Q

How precise does the AWOS report wind direction?

A

AWOS (Automated Weather Observing System) records wind direction with a typical precision of 10 degrees

61
Q

How far should we stay away from a thunderstorm

A

At least 20 miles

62
Q

What problems can a pilot encounter in thunderstorms?

A

Thunderstorms pose hazards to pilots through severe turbulence, sudden wind shear, and intense lightning. They can also cause reduced visibility, hail damage, and icing.

63
Q

Where can you find ATIS, AWOS, ASOS frequencies?

A
  • Airport diagrams
  • Sectional charts
  • Approach plates
  • FAA directory
64
Q

What is the temperature/ dew point spread?

A

It’s the difference between the air temperature and the dew point temperature.

65
Q

What are the air lifting actions?

A
  • Convection: Warm air rises due to heating.
  • Orographic Lift: Air rises over mountains.
  • Frontal Lift: Warm air rises over colder air at fronts.
  • Convergence: Air from different directions comes together and rises.
  • Mechanical Lift: Air is forced upwards by obstacles.

Private Checkride Guide (13 decks)

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