weather vocab Flashcards
(26 cards)
a quantity representing the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere or in a gas.
humidity
are clouds which have flat bases and are often described as “puffy”, “cotton-like” or “fluffy” in appearance.
Cumulus clouds
are low-level clouds characterized by horizontal layering with a uniform base, as opposed to convective or cumuliform clouds that are formed by rising thermals.
Stratus clouds
is a genus of high cloud made of ice crystals. clouds typically appear delicate and wispy with white strands are usually formed as warm, dry air rises, causing water vapor deposition onto rocky or metallic dust particles at high altitudes.
cirrus cloud
is a dense, towering vertical cloud, forming from water vapor carried by powerful upward air currents. If observed during a storm, these clouds may be referred to as thunderheads. can form alone, in clusters, or along cold front squall lines
Cumulonimbus cloud
water which collects as droplets on a cold surface when humid air is in contact with it.
condensation
the process of turning from liquid into vapor.
evaporation
rain, snow, sleet, or hail that falls to the ground.
precipitation
the draining away of water (or substances carried in it) from the surface of an area of land, a building or structure, etc.
runoff
moisture condensed from the atmosphere that falls visibly in separate drops.
rain
a form of precipitation consisting of ice pellets, often mixed with rain or snow.
sleet
atmospheric water vapor frozen into ice crystals and falling in light white flakes or lying on the ground as a white layer.
snow
pellets of frozen rain which fall in showers from cumulonimbus clouds.
hail
This air mass starts very cold and dry but during its long passage over the relatively warm waters of the North Atlantic its temperature rises rapidly and it becomes unstable to a great depth.
Polar – Maritime Air mass
the most important moisture-bearing and rain-producing air mass throughout the year. In winter it moves poleward and is cooled by the ground surface. Consequently, it is characterized by fog or low stratus or stratocumulus clouds, with drizzle and poor visibility.
Tropical – Maritime Air mass
cold, dry, and stable. These air masses originate over northern Canada and Alaska as a result of radiation cooling. They move southward, east of the Rockies into the Plains, then eastward.
Polar – Continental Air mass
hot, dry, unstable at low levels and generally stable aloft (upper-level ridge) Continental tropical air masses originate in northern Mexico. They are characterized by clear skies and negligible rainfall.
Tropical – Continental Air mass
cold front the boundary of an advancing mass of cold air, in particular the trailing edge of the warm sector of a low-pressure system.
cold front
warm front the boundary of an advancing mass of warm air, in particular the leading edge of the warm sector of a low-pressure system.
warm front
thunderstorm a storm with thunder and lightning and typically also heavy rain or hail.
thunderstorm
lightning the occurrence of a natural electrical discharge of very short duration and high voltage between a cloud and the ground or within a cloud, accompanied by a bright flash and typically also thunder.
lightning
a loud rumbling or crashing noise heard after a lightning flash due to the expansion of rapidly heated air.
thunder
a mobile, destructive vortex of violently rotating winds having the appearance of a funnel-shaped cloud and advancing beneath a large storm system.
tornado
a storm with a violent wind, in particular a tropical cyclone in the Caribbean.
hurricane
