weather vocab Flashcards
The front edge of moving mass of cold air that pushes beneath a warmer air mass like a wedge
Cold front
A large body of air throughout which temperature and moisture content are similar
Air mass
The front edge of an advancing warm air mass that replaces colder air with warmer air
Warm front
A front of air masses that moves either very slowly or not at all
Stationary front
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
Occluded front
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
Midlatitude cyclone
A usually brief, heavy storm that consists of rain, strong winds, lightening, and thunder
Thunderstorm
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
Hurricane
A destructive, rotating column of air that has very high wind speeds and that may be visible as a funnel-shaped cloud
Tornado
An instrument that measures and indicates temperature
Thermometer
An instrument that measures atmospheric pressure
Barometer
An instrument used to measure wind speed
Anemometer
An instrument used to determine the direction of the wind
Wind vane
A package of instruments that is carried aloft by a balloon to measure upper atmospheric conditions, including temperature, dew point and wind velocity
Radiosonde
Radio detection and ranging, a system that uses reflected radio waves to determine the velocity and location of objects
Radar
a pattern of meteorological symbols that represents the weather at a particular observing station and that is recorded on a weather map
station model
a destructive, rotating column of air that has very high wind speeds and that may be visible as a funnel-shaped cloud
tornado
the process in which the fastest-moving molecules escape from liquid and form invisible water vapor
evaporation
the name for heat energy that is absorbed or released during a phase change is
latent heat
the name for the process in which water vapor changes back into a liquid
condensation
the name of the process in which a solid changes directly into a gas
sublimation
water vapor in the atmosphere
humidity
the temperature at which condensation equals evaporation
dew point
the mass of water vapor contained in a given volume of air
absolute humidity
the mass of water vapor in a unit of air relative to the mass of the dry air
mixing ratio
the part of the total atmospheric pressure that is caused by water vapor
vapor pressure
