weather vocab

Question 0

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

Answer 0

Cold front

Question 1

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

Answer 1

Air mass

Question 2

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

Answer 2

Warm front

Question 3

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

Answer 3

Stationary front

Question 4

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

Answer 4

Occluded front

Question 5

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

Answer 5

Midlatitude cyclone

Question 6

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

Answer 6

Thunderstorm

Question 7

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

Answer 7

Hurricane

Question 8

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

Answer 8

Tornado

Question 9

An instrument that measures and indicates temperature

Answer 9

Thermometer

Question 10

An instrument that measures atmospheric pressure

Answer 10

Barometer

Question 11

An instrument used to measure wind speed

Answer 11

Anemometer

Question 12

An instrument used to determine the direction of the wind

Answer 12

Wind vane

Question 13

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

Answer 13

Radiosonde

Question 14

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

Answer 14

Radar

Question 15

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

Answer 15

station model

Question 16

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

Answer 16

tornado

Question 17

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

Answer 17

evaporation

Question 18

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

Answer 18

latent heat

Question 19

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

Answer 19

condensation

Question 20

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

Answer 20

sublimation

Question 21

water vapor in the atmosphere

Answer 21

humidity

Question 22

the temperature at which condensation equals evaporation

Answer 22

dew point

Question 23

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

Answer 23

absolute humidity

Question 24

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

Answer 24

mixing ratio

Question 25

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

Answer 25

vapor pressure