| A | B |
|---|
| Saffir Simpson Hurricane Scale | a 1-5 rating based on a hurricane's present intensity |
| Beaufort Scale | a scale of wind intensity |
| Richter Scale | assigns a single number (1-10) to quantify the size of an earthquake |
| Fujita Scale | used to rate the intensity of a tornado by examining the damage caused a tornado after it passed over a man-made structure (rating from F0-F5) |
| Thermometer | an instrument that measures and indicates temperature |
| Barometer | an instrument that measures atmospheric pressure |
| Anamometer | an instrument used to measure wind speed |
| Radar | a device that emits radio waves for detecting and locating an object by the reflection of the radio waves (helps determine object's speed and direction) |
| Meteorologist | one who reports and forecasts the weather |
| Weather station | station for tracking, recording and reporting observations of the weather |
| Weather vane | a movable device attached to something high to show which way the wind is blowing |
| Altitude | angular distance above the horizon, vertical distance |
| Station model | a small circle that shows the location of the weather station; a specified pattern for entering, on a weather map, the meteorological symbols that represent the state of the weather at a particular observation station |
| Front | the area in which two types of air masses meet; the boundary between air masses of different densities and usually between different temperatures |
| Cold front | cold air moves under warm air bringing thunderstorms, heavy rain or snow |
| Warm front | warm air moves over cold, denser air bringing drizzly rain followed by clear and warm weather |
| Occluded front | a warm air mass is caught between and above two cold air masses, has cool temperatures and large amounts of rain and snow |
| Stationary front | a cold and warm air mass meet but neither is strong enough to move the warm air mass over the cold, usually bring many days of cloudy wet weather |
