Water Cycle
Nature’s way of recycling water.
What is the water cycle?
Gray clouds that cover the lower part of the sky; rain or snow falls from them
What are stratus clouds?
device for measuring amount of liquid precipitation
What is a rain guage?
large volume of air with similar temperature and moisture content
What is an air mass?
air rises and cools in a high-pressure system, producing _____ weather
What is calm, clear?
The process of water changing into an invisible gas called water vapor
What is evaporation?
White, puffy clouds that look like piles of cotton; they are known as fair-weather or picnic clouds
What are cumulus clouds?
units of measure for temperature in the US
What is Fahrenheit?
A boundary between two air masses
What is a front?
Low -pressure systems cause air to _____ and cool which produces stormy conditions
What is rise?
Amount of water vapor in the air
What is humidity?
Thin, feathery clouds that appear high in the sky; they are a sign that rain or snow is on the way
What are cirrus clouds?
Instrument that shows wind direction
What is a wind vane or a wind sock?
a warm and cool air mass meet but there is not enough wind to keep the air masses moving, many days of unchanging weather
What is a stationary front?
warm ocean currents have a warming/cooling effect on the air masses above them
What is warming?
The process of water vapor turning into water droplets
What is condensation?
Cloud that forms at the earth’s surface
What is fog?
Measures wind speed
What is an anemometer?
cold air moves under warm air, forces warm air to rise and cool producing rain usually followed by cool weather
What is a cold front?
storms that are fueled by water and happen over the ocean
What are hurricanes and monsoons?
The water cycle affects weather when _____ falls to earth's surface in the form of rain, snow, sleet or hail.
What is precipitation?
Tall, puffy, dark clouds that mean thunderstorms with heavy rain and strong winds
What are cumulonimbus clouds?
two methods to collect weather data/information
What are moving and stationary?
warm air rises over cold air, moisture condenses producing drizzly rain followed by clear, warm weather
What is a warm front?
global winds and jet streams form because earth's surface in not _____ ______.
What is heated evenly?