| A | B |
|---|
| maritime air mass | moist |
| continent air mass | dry |
| polar air mass | cold |
| tropical air mass | warm |
| winds | this is what moves air masses |
| the two air masses that mostly affect our weather | Jet Stream and Prevailing Westerlies |
| Air Pressure | Force or weight of air |
| High pressure | clear weather, sunny, low energy, molecules tightly packed |
| Low Pressure | clouds, stormy, rainy, high energy,air molecules spread out |
| Isobars | a line on a weather map connecting equal points of pressure |
| Fronts | line or boundary between two air masses having different temperatures |
| cold fronts | usually move faster, puch warm air up, moves in cold air, brings heavy rain, don't last long, cold weather |
| warm fronts | move slower that cold fronts, warm air rises over cold air pushing it away, brings lighter rain, can last a few days, brings warm weather |
| Stationary front | cold and warm air masses not moving |
| Three conditions needed for clouds to form | low temperature, lower air pressure, and solid particles |
| types of clouds | cirrus, cumulus, stratus |
| cirrus | hight, thin wispy clouds formed from ice crystals, usually with clear weather |
| cumulus | cotton ball types of clouds |
| stratus | blanket type of clouds that can cover the sky, can ofter be rain clouds |
| condensation | gas changing to the liquid state (water on mirror after shower) |
| Dew point temperature | the temperature at which water begins to condense out of an air mass |
| Relative humidity | a comparison of the amount of water actually in the gas state compared to the total amount that could be a gas at that temp. Expressed as a percentage % |
