Weather Patterns
Large clouds that often produce thunderstorms
What are Cumulonimbus Clouds?
A rapidly moving cold air mass overtakes a slow moving warm air mass
What is a cold front?
The average yearly conditions of temperature, precipitation, winds and clouds in a large area
What is climate?
Two factors that affect climate
What are precipitation and temperature?
long cold periods lasting from hundreds to millions of years when glaciers cover much of Earth
What are ice ages?
Any form of water that falls from clouds
A warm air mass and a cold air mass meet and neither can move the other
What is a stationary front?
Type of climate over a large area of land
What is continental climate?
Greenhouse gas that may cause global warming
What is carbon dioxide?
an occasional climatic event (occurs every 3-8 years) in which the trade winds weaken, reversing the normal pattern of high and low pressures across the pacific ocean
What is El niño?
Cold, dry air affecting the northern US in winter often comes from this type of air mass
What is continental polar air mass?
A funnel-shaped cloud that touched the Earth's surface
What is a tornado?
Caused when the Earth tilts on its axis as it revolves around the sun
What are seasons?
What is rainfall?
arge-scale cutting and/or burning of forests which also increases carbon dioxide
What is deforestation?
Direction that prevailing westerlies push air masses
What is west to east?
Area where hurricanes typically form over
What is warm ocean water?
Tundra and ice cap climates are examples of this climate
What is polar climate?
Trapping energy from the sun by Earth's atmosphere
What is the greenhouse effect?
Activity that increases CO2 in the atmosphere
What is burning fossil fuels, forests fires, etc.?
Where a warm air mass is caught between two cooler air masses
What is an occluded front?
Technology that allows a meteorologists to follow the path of an approaching thunderstorm
What is doppler radar?
Climate where we live
What is temperate continental?
areas of low rainfall on a downward, or leeward side of the mountain
What are rain shadows?
a wind circulation pattern that changes directions with the seasons
What is a monsoon?