Weather

Question 1

What is an Air Mass?

Answer 1

Large body of air that take on the characteristics of the area they originated form – ex: air mass from canada will be cool and dry

Question 2

What is a Front? What is changing?

Answer 2

When two air masses from different areas collide together; typically where weather is changing

Question 3

What are the 4 different types of fronts?

Answer 3

Warm, Cold, Stationary, and Occluded

Question 4

How is a front characterized?

Answer 4

By the type of air behind the front and moving forward to take over the other air mass

Question 5

What is an Occluded front?

Answer 5

When there is cool air at the front, warm air at the back, and then more cold air at the back sandwiching the warm air

Question 6

What type of front moves the quickest? What is it associated with?

Answer 6

Cold front - usually associated with strong winds, thunderstorms, turbulence, etc

Question 7

What type of front moves the slowest? What is it associated with?

Answer 7

Warm fronts – usually less intense weather; but can experience poor visibility and sometimes rain

Question 8

What is a convective current? What causes it?

Answer 8

When there is a cold front – where pockets of local up and downdrafts move which cause turbulence

Question 9

What is the air quality like with a convective current? Why?

Answer 9

It is unstable – therefore it is good surface visibility – the air is moist and turbulent

Question 10

What is the air quality like without a convective current (I.e. when there is a warm front)

Answer 10

The warm air passes over a cooler region; therefore no convective currents form – this means that there is poor visiblity, smooth air,

Question 11

Why is air quality/visibility bad when there is no convective current?

Answer 11

B/c when there is a convective current, the dust particles will rise away into the atmosphere