Download Weather Patterns

Currents: Review
Currents~ continuous directed movement of seawater caused
by wind, gravity, and water density
Surface circulation
Deep water circulation
Cold water currents (polar regions)
The air above it is cold
Warm water currents (equator)
The air above it is warm
Wind: Review
Caused by differences in air pressure due to unequal heating of
the Earth’s atmosphere
Jet Stream
Moves West to East
Local Winds
Global Winds
Tradewinds
Westerlies
Easterlies
Weather Patterns: Air
Masses
Large bodies of air with the same properties
(cold, warm, dry, moist).
4 types- maritime tropical; maritime polar;
continental tropical, continental tropical
Weather Patterns: Fronts
The boundary between two different air masses
The weather at a front is usually stormy and
unsettled
4 types- cold; warm; occluded; stationary
Cold Fronts:
- Cold air collides
with warm air and
pushes it up
- Violent storms
Fair, cool weather
afterwards
Warm Fronts:
- Warm air mass
collides and
moves over a
cold air mass
- Rain and
showers
Hot, humid
weather follows
Occluded Fronts:
- When a warm air
mass is
sandwiched
between 2 cold
air masses and is
pushed up
- Less extreme
storm weather
occurs
Stationary Fronts:
- Collision of a warm
air mass and a cold
air mass
- No movement
occurs
- Rain may fall for
days
- Cooler temperatures
So How Do Fronts Cause Severe
Weather?
Thunderstorms
Tornadoes
&
Hurricanes
Thunderstorms and Tornadoes:
- Warm, moist, low
elevation wind collides
with cool, dry, high
elevation wind
- The warm air quickly
rises and the cool air
sinks leading to a
supercell
- Sometimes the air will tilt
upwards forming a funnel
cloud and resulting in a
tornado
Hurricanes:
Low pressure area containing
rising warm air
Forms over tropical oceans
Warm moist air rises rapidly,
condenses and creates clouds
and thunderstorms
These thunderstorms begin to
spin