Sun & Energy
This is the main source of energy that drives Earth’s weather.
What is the Sun?
Wind always moves from this type of pressure to this type.
What is high pressure to low pressure?
This effect causes moving air to curve instead of moving straight.
What is the Coriolis Effect?
This breeze blows from the sea toward land during the day.
What is a sea breeze?
This storm forms from strong updrafts inside supercells.
What is a tornado?
Uneven heating of Earth leads directly to these two atmospheric differences.
What are temperature and pressure differences?
Compared to cold air, warm air is less ______
What is dense?
In the Northern Hemisphere, moving air curves in this direction.
What is to the right?
At night, air moves from land toward water because land cools faster.
What is a land breeze?
A hurricane must form over water at least this warm.
What is 80°F (or warmer)?
Warm air does this because its molecules spread out and become less dense.
What is rises?
Sinking air is most commonly associated with this type of weather.
What is clear and calm weather?
These winds blow from west to east across the United States.
What are the westerlies?
Large lakes can create this winter weather phenomenon in Michigan.
What is lake-effect snow?
This type of front usually causes short, intense storms.
What is a cold front?
This type of current forms when warm air rises and cool air sinks.
What are convection currents?
This pressure system is linked to clouds and precipitation.
What is low pressure?
Name the global circulation cell responsible for rainforests near the equator.
What is the Hadley Cell?
Local winds are caused mainly by differences in ______.
What is temperature?
Define a blizzard using wind speed, visibility, and duration.
Winds ≥ 35 mph, visibility < ¼ mile, lasting ≥ 3 hours.
If Earth received equal solar energy everywhere, this would largely disappear.
What is global wind and weather patterns?
Explain why rising air often leads to cloud formation.
Warm air rises, cools, and condenses into clouds
Why does Michigan’s weather usually move west to east?
Because of the westerlies and jet stream.
Why do areas near large bodies of water have milder climates?
Water heats and cools more slowly than land.
This dangerous storm produces widespread straight-line winds over long distances.
What is a derecho?