Download Weather and Climate Vocabulary

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Weather and Climate Vocabulary
Weather – the condition of the atmosphere at a particular time and place in a region
Meteorology – the study of weather, and the understanding of the forces and causes of weather
Meteorologists – scientists who study the Earth’s atmosphere
Atmosphere – the air that surrounds the Earth
Wind – air in motion, a result of the uneven heating of the Earth’s surface by the sun
Global winds – winds that blow over long distances from specific direction
Local winds – winds that blow over short distances
Coriolis Effect – the deflection of winds caused by the rotation of the Earth on its axis
Doldrums – mostly very calm air in a band over the equator
Latitude – the distance of a place north or south of the equator
Trade Winds – warm, steady winds that blow back toward the equator in usually clear skies
Prevailing Westerlies – cool air, usually moving quickly toward the poles from the west to east in both hemispheres
Polar Easterlies – cold, fairly weak winds blowing from east to west
Prevailing winds – winds that blow more often from one direction than the other
Jet Streams – bands of high-speed winds about 10 kilometers above Earth’s surface
Sea breeze – the breeze created when cooler moist air from over the water slides beneath the rising air on an ocean
beach
Offshore breezes or land breezes – the breeze caused when the water stays warm and the land has cooled
Heat – energy that flows from one object to a cooler object
Specific Heat – amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of a substance by one degree Celsius
Weather Box – an organized collection of symbols used to represent weather data
Isobars – lines on a weather map that connect areas of equal barometric pressure
Isotherms – lines on a weather map that connect areas of equal temperature
Barometric Pressure – a measurement of force exerted on a given unit of space by the weight of air
Barometer – an instrument used to measuring air pressure
Fronts – points of contact between air masses
Cold Front – cold air mass overtakes a warm air mass
Warm Front – when a warm air mass overtakes a cold air mass
Science 8 – Weather & Climate
Stationary Front – occurs when air masses tend to remain in place for a period of time
Occluded Front – when two cold air masses collide and push a warm air mass up between them
Thunderstorms – a storm of heavy rain accompanied by lightning, thunder and sometimes hail
Tornado – a violently rotating column of air; usually takes the form of a funnel-shaped cloud extending downward out of
a cumulonimbus cloud
Hurricane – a severe, rotating tropical storm with heavy rains and cyclonic winds exceeding 74 miles per hour
Lightning – a flash of light in the sky caused by an electrical discharge between clouds or between a cloud and the
Earth’s surface; the flash heats the air and usually causes thunder
Thunder – the explosive noise that accompanies a stroke of lightning; sound wave is caused by the expansion of the air
through with lightning passes
Continental Air Mass – air mass that builds over land
Maritime Air Mass – air masses assembled over oceans
High-pressure system – regions of sinking cool air
Low-pressure system – regions of rising warm moist air
Climate – temperature and precipitation for a particular area over a long period of time
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Polar Zone – exists between 60 and 90 in latitude, both in the northern and southern hemispheres; there is no
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summer, and average yearly temperature remains below 0 C
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Temperate Zone – exists between 30 and 60 in latitude, both in the northern and southern hemispheres; average
temperatures can vary
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Tropical Zone – exists between 0 and 30 in latitude, both in the northern and southern hemispheres; temperatures are
hot, and there is high humidity
Windward – the side of a mountain that faces the oncoming wind
Leeward – the downwind side of mountains
Microclimate – the climate characteristic of a small specific area; it may be different from the climate of the surrounding
area
Science 8 – Weather & Climate