weather vocab Flashcards

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0
Q

The front edge of moving mass of cold air that pushes beneath a warmer air mass like a wedge

A

Cold front

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1
Q

A large body of air throughout which temperature and moisture content are similar

A

Air mass

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2
Q

The front edge of an advancing warm air mass that replaces colder air with warmer air

A

Warm front

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3
Q

A front of air masses that moves either very slowly or not at all

A

Stationary front

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4
Q

A front that forms when a cold air mass overtakes a warm air mass and lifts the warm air mass off the ground and over another air mass

A

Occluded front

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5
Q

An area of low pressure that is characterized by rotating wind that moves toward the rising air of the central low-pressure region; the motion is counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere

A

Midlatitude cyclone

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6
Q

A usually brief, heavy storm that consists of rain, strong winds, lightening, and thunder

A

Thunderstorm

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7
Q

A severe storm that develops over tropical oceans and whose strong winds of more than 120 km/h spiral in toward the intensely low-pressure center

A

Hurricane

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8
Q

A destructive, rotating column of air that has very high wind speeds and that may be visible as a funnel-shaped cloud

A

Tornado

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9
Q

An instrument that measures and indicates temperature

A

Thermometer

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10
Q

An instrument that measures atmospheric pressure

A

Barometer

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11
Q

An instrument used to measure wind speed

A

Anemometer

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12
Q

An instrument used to determine the direction of the wind

A

Wind vane

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13
Q

A package of instruments that is carried aloft by a balloon to measure upper atmospheric conditions, including temperature, dew point and wind velocity

A

Radiosonde

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14
Q

Radio detection and ranging, a system that uses reflected radio waves to determine the velocity and location of objects

A

Radar

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15
Q

a pattern of meteorological symbols that represents the weather at a particular observing station and that is recorded on a weather map

A

station model

16
Q

a destructive, rotating column of air that has very high wind speeds and that may be visible as a funnel-shaped cloud

A

tornado

17
Q

the process in which the fastest-moving molecules escape from liquid and form invisible water vapor

A

evaporation

18
Q

the name for heat energy that is absorbed or released during a phase change is

A

latent heat

19
Q

the name for the process in which water vapor changes back into a liquid

A

condensation

20
Q

the name of the process in which a solid changes directly into a gas

A

sublimation

21
Q

water vapor in the atmosphere

A

humidity

22
Q

the temperature at which condensation equals evaporation

A

dew point

23
Q

the mass of water vapor contained in a given volume of air

A

absolute humidity

24
Q

the mass of water vapor in a unit of air relative to the mass of the dry air

A

mixing ratio

25
Q

the part of the total atmospheric pressure that is caused by water vapor

A

vapor pressure