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NC Earth & Environmental Science > Weather Systems > Flashcards

Weather Systems Flashcards

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1
Q

What two things are always in motion to distribute heat energy on and around the Earth?

A
  • Ocean Currents

- Global Wind Systems

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2
Q

What explains why the poles are never very warm?

A

The Sun’s rays do not hit the Earth as directly at the poles as compared to the tropics. Sunlight must be spread over a larger area near the poles.

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3
Q

Air Masses:

A
  • Continental Tropical - cT
  • Maritime Tropical - mT
  • Continental Polar - cP
  • Maritime Polar - mP
  • Arctic - A
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4
Q 
Continental Air Masses:
Maritime Air Masses:
Polar Air Masses:
Tropical Air Masses:
Arctic Air Mass:
A 
Continental - Dry
Maritime - Humid
Polar - Cool/Cold
Tropical - Warm
Arctic - Very Cold
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5
Q

Polar Easterlies:

  • Direction
  • Location by Latitude
A
  • East

- Located between 60 degrees latitude and the pole in both hemispheres.

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6
Q

Prevailing Westerlies:

  • Direction
  • Location by Latitude
A
  • West
  • Located between 30 and 60 degrees latitude in both hemispheres.
  • This is the wind system that directs fronts across our country.
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7
Q

Trade Winds:

  • Direction
  • Location by Latitude
A
  • East

- Located between the equator and 30 degrees latitude in both hemispheres.

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8
Q

Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)

A
  • The area near the equator where the trade winds converge from 2 different directions.
  • Air is forced up and creates an area of low pressure. (Remember – warm air rising!)
  • The ITCZ provides the moisture for many of the world’s tropical rainforests.
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9
Q

Doldrums

A
  • Another name for the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)
  • It is sometimes called the “horse latitudes”
  • Around the 30 degrees latitude, sinking air creates a belt of high pressure which causes weak winds.
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10
Q

Polar Jet Stream

A
  • Narrow bands of fast, high altitude westerly winds (which resemble jets of water).
  • Polar jet stream (separates polar easterlies from prevailing westerlies).
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11
Q

Subtropical Jet Stream

A
  • Jet streams follow the boundaries between hot and cold and are strongest in the winter.
  • Subtropical jet stream (where the trade winds meet the prevailing westerlies.
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12
Q

Cold Front

  • Symbol
  • Weather
A
  • Cold, dense air displaces warm air and forces it up a steep front.
  • Symbolized by blue triangles (icicles!)
  • Clouds, showers, and thunderstorms.
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13
Q

Warm Front

  • Symbol
  • Weather
A
  • Advancing warm air displaces cold air and moves up slowly.
  • Symbolized by red semicircles (like lava rocks!)
  • Extensive cloudiness and precipitation
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14
Q

Stationary Front

  • Symbol
  • Weather
A
  • Two air masses meet and neither advances.
  • Blue icicles alternate with red semicircles.
  • Some clouds and precipitation - can have rain for several days in a row.
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15
Q

Occluded Front

  • Symbol
  • Weather
A
  • A cold air mass moves so rapidly that it overtakes a warm front and wedges the warm air up.
  • Purple Alternating semicircles/icicles.
  • Precipitation on both sides of the front.
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16
Q

High Pressure System:

  • Air temperature and movement
  • Weather type
  • Direction of Rotation
  • Symbol
A
  • Cold air sinking
  • Fair weather
  • Rotates clockwise
  • Represented as a blue “H”
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17
Q

Low Pressure System:

  • Air temperature and movement
  • Weather type
  • Direction of Rotation
  • Symbol
A
  • Warm air rising
  • Clouds and precipitation
  • Rotates counter-clockwise
  • Represented as a red “L”
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18
Q

Thermometer

A
  • Measures temperature
  • Measured in degrees Celsius (C°) or Fahrenheit (F°).
  • Contain liquids when heated
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19
Q

Barometer

A
  • Measures air pressure
  • Measures in millibars or inches of mercury.
  • May contain mercury or a vacuum inside a metal chamber that contracts or expands with changes in air pressure.
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20
Q

Anemometer

A
  • Measures wind speed
  • Measures in mph or km/h.
  • Has cupped arms that rotate as the wind blows.
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21
Q

Hygrometer

A
  • Measures relative humidity
  • Percentage of water is holding compared to how much it can hold.
  • Uses wet and dry bulb thermometers and determines how fast the water evaporates from the web bulb.
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22
Q

Radiosonde

A

A radiosonde is a balloon-borne package of weather sensors.

23
Q

Radar

A
  • Radio Detecting and Ranging
  • Works by bouncing radio waves off of large rain drops.
  • The waves that bounce off are picked up by a receiver, processed by a computer, and displayed on a screen as a “radar” image.
24
Q

Doppler Effect

A

The change in wave frequency that occurs in energy, such as sound or light as that energy moves toward or away from an observer.

25
Q

Isobars

A

Lines on a map connecting points having the same atmospheric pressure at a given time or on average over a given period.

26
Q

Station Model

A

A record of weather data for a particular site at a particular time.

27
Q

Digital Forecasting

A

A digital forecast relies on numerical data. This is the main method used in modern forecasting.

28
Q

Analog Forecasting

A

An analog forecast involves comparing current weather patterns to patterns that took place in the past.

29
Q

Thunderstorms (and types)

A
  • Florida gets the most thunderstorms of U.S. states (tropical area)

Types of Thunderstorms:

  • Orographic (Mountain)
  • Sea Breeze
  • Frontal-Cold
  • Frontal-Warm
30
Q

Air Mass- Orographic (Mountain) Thunderstorm:

  • Location
  • Why it forms
  • When
A
  • Within one air mass over a mountain.
  • Warm air rises over a mountain, forming storm clouds!
  • Mid- afternoon
31
Q

Air Mass- Sea Breeze Thunderstorm:

  • Location
  • Why it forms
  • When
A
  • Coastal Areas, especially tropical and subtropical areas.
  • Temperature differences between land and sea create convection cells and updrafts.
  • Summer
32
Q

Frontal- Cold Thunderstorm:

  • Location
  • Why it forms
  • When
A
  • At the leading edge of a cold front.
  • Cold air pushes warm air rapidly up at the steep cold-front boundary.
  • Any time a cold front moves in!
33
Q

Frontal- Warm Thunderstorm:

  • Location
  • Why it forms
  • When
A
  • At the leading edge of a warm front.
  • Warm air mass slides up over a cold air mass creating clouds.
  • If a warm front moves in with enough moisture and instability.
34
Q

Lightning:

  • Formation
  • Stepped leader
  • Return Stroke
  • Temperature
A
  • It is a giant spark of electricity in thunderstorms
    (It is an electric current - a discharge of atmospheric electrical energy).
  • Lightning bolts occur when negative charges (electrons) in the bottom of storm clouds want to link with the positive charges on the ground.
  • A “stepped leader” is the flow of negative charge (electrons) which rushes to the ground and attracts with the positive charges.
  • The “return stroke” is when a strong electric current carries the positive charge into the clouds. It creates the electric flash we see as lightning.
  • About 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit
35
Q

Downburst

A
  • A downburst is a violent downdraft concentrated in a local area.

Two types of downbursts…

  • Macrobursts (more than 2 ½ miles wide/ 130 mph winds/ 5-20 min)
  • Microbursts (2 ½ miles wide/ 168 mph. winds/ less than 10 min.)
  • Microbursts are deadlier because they are hard to detect and plan for.
36
Q

Hail

A

Precipitation in the form of balls or lumps of ice

37
Q

Causes of Floods:

A
  • Wind currents in the upper atmosphere are weak so that weather system move slowly.
  • Abundant moisture over a limited area
  • Rain falls faster than the ground can absorb it.
  • Groundwater levels are high and water can not infiltrate the ground.
38
Q

Formation of Tornadoes

A
  • A change in wind direction and speed creates a horizontal rotation
  • Strong updrafts tilt the rotating air to a vertical position
  • A tornado forms within the rotating winds.
39
Q

Tornado Alley (formation):

A
  • The area in the U.S. that get’s the most tornadoes
  • A cP air mass from Canada meets a mT air mass from the Gulf of Mexico
  • There is not a lot of mountains to break up the meeting of cP and mT air masses.
  • Most tornadoes occur in May.
40
Q

The (Enhanced) Fujita Scale

  • Path
  • Wind Speed
  • Duration
  • Percentage of all tornadoes
A
  • This scale is used to classify a tornado AFTER the tornado has passed by looking at the damage and effects of the tornado.
  • EF0 to EF1 – 3 miles; 60 - 115mph; 1 - 10 min; 80% of all tornadoes
  • EF2 to EF3 – 15+ miles; 110-165 mph; 20+ min; 19% of all tornadoes
  • EF4 to EF5 – 50+ miles; 200+ mph; 1+ hr; 1% of all tornadoes
41
Q

Tornado Safety:

A
  1. Move to a pre-designated shelter – to a basement if possible.
  2. Move to an interior room/hall, lowest floor, under sturdy furniture. (A bath tub is safest!)
  3. Stay away from windows.
  4. Get out of vehicles!
  5. Don’t try to outrun a tornado.
  6. If outside, lie flat in a ditch or depression
  7. Abandon a mobile home for a shelter. Usually occur in May.
42
Q

Tropical Cyclone

A
  • Hurricanes
  • Large, rotating, low pressure storms
  • Pressure drops and wind speeds reach 74mph.
  • 74 mph. Or greater
43
Q

Hurricanes and Cyclones :

  • Turning Direction
  • Pressure system
  • Air pressure
  • Surface wind speeds
A
  • Spins counter-clockwise
  • Low pressure system
  • Air pressure on the eyewall decreases as hurricanes strengthen.
  • Surface wind speeds increase as hurricanes strengthen.
44
Q

Conditions for Cyclone Formation:

  • Direction
  • Which wind system guides them in the Atlantic?
A
  • Lots of warm, ocean water
  • Disturbance to lift the air
  • Moves west
  • The prevailing westerlies guides hurricanes in the Atlantic.
45
Q

Tropical Disturbance / Depression

  • Definition
  • Sustained winds
A

Disturbance - A weak, low-pressure system – group of thunderstorms collect.
- Less than 23 mph.

Depression - A disturbance begins to rotate around the center of low pressure.
- 23 to 39 mph.

46
Q

Tropical Storm

A
  • A depression is labeled a storm when the wind speeds reach 39 mph.
  • 39 to 73 mph.
47
Q

Scale used for Hurricane Classification:

  • Four characteristics
  • Listed/Rated
  • Windspeeds for the lowest / highest categories
A
  • Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale
  • Wind speed (how high?)
  • Air pressure (how low)
  • Potential for damage (how much?!)
  • Storm surge (flooding)
  • 1 to 5 (5 is highest)
  • Category 1 is 74mph.
  • Category 5 is 155mph.
48
Q

Storm Surge

  • Strongest winds are at…
  • Effects of storm surge
  • Agency for tracking…
A

When hurricane force winds drive a mound of ocean water towards coastal areas.

  • Strongest winds are at the eye wall
  • Floods
  • The National Hurricane Center in Miami, FL, at the FIU Campus (NOAA)
49
Q

Smog

  • Causes
  • Chemicals
A

A yellow-brown photochemical haze.

  • Caused by the action of solar radiation on an atmosphere polluted with hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides, mostly from car exhaust.
  • Ozone Chemicals
50
Q

Particulate Matter

A
  • Ash, dust, pollen, and Asbestso fibers.

- These are forms of SOLID pollutants in the air.

51
Q

Greenhouse Effect

A

It is the heat from the sun being trapped by the gases in our atmosphere.
- Allows for life in the atmosphere by keeping the Earth warm.

52
Q

Ozone Depletion

A
  • Ozone blocks the UV rays from the sun!
  • It is caused by Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which reacts with Ozone to break apart the O3 (Ozone).
  • CFCs are used as refrigerants, coolants, propellants in aerosol cans, and Styrofoam.
53
Q

CFC Regulations:

A

CFCs were banned in the late 1980s in industrialized nations.
- “Under the 1987 Montreal Protocol developing countries committed themselves to halving consumption and production of the CFCs by 2005 and to achieving an 85% cut by 2007.”

54
Q

Acid Rain

  • Formation
  • Source
  • Effects
A
  • It is precipitation with a pH level of less than 5. (Normal is from 5 to 5.6)
  • Acid precipitation forms when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides combine with atmospheric moisture to create sulfuric acid and nitric acid.
  • Coal-burning power plants (mostly in midwestern USA)
  • Damage to aquatic ecosystems and vegetation. Affects freshwater, plants, and soil

NC Earth & Environmental Science (9 decks)

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