Download Predicting Weather Study Guide

Predicting Weather Study Guide
1. What are scientists who study weather and try to predict it called?
meteorologists
2. Isobars are lines on a map joining places that have the same what?
air pressure
3. Places shown on a weather map that have the same temperature are connected by what?
isotherms
4. The boundary where unlike air masses meet, but do not easily mix is a called what?
front
5. What kind of cloud usually occurs at the highest altitude?
cirrus
6. What are sheet-shaped clouds, that are a uniform dull gray color called?
stratus
7. Condensation and the formation of clouds begins as the rising air reaches its what?
dew point
8. What kind of weather would cumulonimbus clouds likely bring?
thunderstorms and/or tornadoes (they are also known as “thunderheads”)
9. What are two general characteristics that define each cloud type?
shape and altitude
10. What source of weather data would enable a meteorologist to follow the path of an approaching
thunderstorm?
Doppler Radar allows scientists to track precipitation, including thunderstorms
11. Where are weather balloons located?
lower stratosphere, upper troposphere
12. How is wind speed measured?
anemometer
13. How are weather satellites better than ground-based automated weather stations?
weather satellites are located in the exosphere and can gather data from a much higher altitude
14. What does a line with half circles indicate?
warm front
15. How is wind speed represented on a weather station symbol?
small lines at the end of the shaft that indicates wind direction, tells you how fast the wind is
going as well
16. What does a cloud cover symbol that is ¾ black and ¼ white represent?
70-80% cloud cover
Predicting Weather Study Guide
17. What happens to the air molecules in a high-pressure system?
air molecules are close together and pressing on Earth’s surface (sink)
18. What weather instrument takes measurements for isobars?
barometer – measures air pressure
19. What do each of the symbols shown below represent?
Clear skies, wind speed of 32-37 mph, winds from the southeast
Warm front; low pressure system; air behind the warm front will have increased
(warmer) temperatures than air before the warm front
Cold front, moving from west to east
Station B: clear skies, no wind
City A: 20-30% cloud cover; wind speed of 21-25 mph; winds
from the southwest
A = cold front
B = isotherm; connects places with the same
temperatures; measured with a thermometer
C = occluded front
D = warm front
E = stationary front
F = isobar; connects places with the same air
pressure; measured with a barometer;
millibars is the unit for the aneroid barometer
All weather (all fronts) move from west to
east because the Westerlies are the global
wind belt that moves weather across the
United States.