Weather Flashcards
What instrument is used to track high and low pressure? What is it measured in?
Barometer-psi-pounds per square inch
What gases are in the atmosphere?
Nitrogen Oxygen Argon Carbon Dioxide and others such as Helium and Krypton
Explain why high pressure means clear skies
The air is more dense The air Falls The air is compressed compression is a warming process The water evaporates
Why does a low pressure mean cloudy skies and maybe storms?
The air is less dense The air rises The air expands Expansion is a cooling process The water molecules condensing form clouds
Why is the earth different from what it was 1 billion years ago?
Photosynthetic organisms caused a change
Why does a.m. radio transmit better at night then during the day?
When the sun goes down ions recombine and the reflection increases
What damages Ozone?
CFCs
What two types of air are separated by the jet stream?
Cold and warm
What type of process is compression?
Warming
What type of process is expansion?
Cooling
What are the three ingredients needed to make a cloud in a bottle?
Water vapor, expansion, and condensation nuclei
Why did the can crush?
The high-pressure on the outside of the can pushes the low pressure inside the can, causing implosion.
What is atmospheric pressure?
The weight of all the gas pushing down on us.
What creates wind?
When air moves from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure.
What is relative humidity?
Relative humidity is the actual amount of water vapor in the air
What is humidity?
The maximum amount of water vapor the air could possibly hold
As the temperature increases what can the air hold more of?
Water vapor
What conditions have to be right for due to form?
The air has to be saturated and it has to be above 0°C
What conditions have to be right for frost to form?
The air has to be saturated and it has to be below 0°C
Why are clouds forming at almost all fronts?
The warm and cold air are coming together
How do meteorologists measure the upper atmosphere?
It’s measured by a radiosonde, A package of weather instruments carried very high above the ground by a weather balloon
What are the three types of pressures?
Barometric, atmospheric, and air
What are isobars?
Lines of equal pressure
What is pressured measured in
Millibars
When Isobars are far apart where does this happen and what does it mean?
It happens at high pressures and it means that it’s calm
When Isobars are close together where does this happen and what does it mean?
This happens out low pressures and it means that it’s windy
What is an Air mass
Is a huge body of air with similar temperatures humidities and pressures
What are the four types of fronts
Cold warm stationary occluded
Why do stationary fronts have the same yucky weather for days on end
It doesn’t move
A visible map so sings that can be seen in what?
Daylight
What does an infrared maps detect
Heat
On an infrared map what is black?
The ground
On an infrared map what is white
Clouds
What type of cloud is Hail formed in
Cumulonimbus
What ingredients are needed for hail in a test tube
Supercooled water ice crystals/Seed of ice
What are doldrums?
There is a low pressure and little wind and the rising air then cools causing rain
