Air Massesâ
What are air masses?
They are large volumes of moving air.
What type of weather do stationary fronts produce?
Rainy weather
These two main characteristics are used to classify air masses.
(What are temperature and humidity/moisture?)
: This front usually brings long, steady, gentle precipitation or light drizzle.
(What is a warm front?)
Skies usually clear up and temperatures become cooler and drier after this front passes.
(What is a cold front?
True or False:
Air masses don't appear on weather maps
False
What is a front?
It is the front of an air mass
An air mass that forms over land is given this prefix.
(What is continental (c)?)
This front often brings heavy rain, thunderstorms, and a rapid drop in temperature.
(What is a cold front?)
: This type of weatherâsuch as prolonged clouds and continuous rainâcan stall over an area for days when this specific front gets stuck.
(What is a stationary front?)
What are the 5 types of air masses?
Maritime, Continential, Tropical, Polar, Arctic
Warm fronts, Cold fronts, and Stationary fronts
An air mass that forms over the North Atlantic or North Pacific oceans is given this two-letter abbreviation.
(What is mP (maritime polar)?)
This front is marked on a weather map with alternating red half-circles and blue triangles on opposite sides of the line.
(What is a stationary front?
The slope of this front is very gradual (gentle), causing warm air to slowly slide up and over a cold air mass.
(What is a warm front?)
What characteristics define an air mass?
Hint: There are three.
Temperture, air pressure, and moisture
What do fronts represent between air masses?
They are the boundaries between air masses.
This front forms when two air masses meet, but neither is strong enough to push the other out of the way.
(What is a stationary front?)
Where do maritime air masses form?
Over water
What weather do collisions between warm air and cold air cause?
Rain
This dry, cold air mass forms over northern Canada and the Arctic.
(What is continental polar / continental arctic, or cP/cA?)
This front occurs when a fast-moving cold front overtakes a slower warm front, lifting the warm air completely off the ground.
(What is an occluded front?)