Download Weather/Climate Study Guide KEY Know the following vocabulary

Weather/Climate Study Guide KEY
1. Know the following vocabulary: radiosonde, ceilometer, analog forecast, digital forecast, isopleth, Doppler
effect, hygrometer, barometer, anemometer, thermometer, meteorology, jet stream, Coriolis effect, front,
pressure gradient, low pressure system and high pressure system
2. What is an air mass? Large body of air that takes on the characteristics of the area over which it forms
3. Do air masses move? Yes and they transfer heat as they go.
4. How are air masses classified? According to their source regions; ex. Continental polar, maritime tropical
5. Which direction does the Earth rotate?west to east
6. How does the Coriolis effect cause air and water to move in the northern and southern hemispheres? Rotate
clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the southern hemisphere
7. What are the different global wind systems? In N. hemisphere: Trade winds 0-30o, flow to W; prevailing
westerlies 30-60o, flow to E, cause most weather in US; polar easterlies 60-90o, flow to the SW
8. What is the jet stream? Why is it important? Narrow bands of fast, high-altitude W winds; polar jet stream at
60o and subtropical jet stream at 30o; give rise to large-scale weather systems
9. What are the 4 different fronts? What type of weather are found at each? How are they represented on
weather maps?cold-clouds, showers, blue triangle; warm-extensive cloudiness, precipitation, red semicircles;
stationary-similar to warm fronts, both red semicircles and blue triangles; occluded-precipitation on both
sides of the front, purple triangles & semicircles
10. What are high pressure systems?air falls and moves out from the center, rotation is clockwise (in N hem.),
11. What are low pressure systems?air rises and moves in to the center, rotation is counter-clockwise (in N hem.)
12. Know the different instruments used to gather weather data.thermometer, barometer, anemometer,
hygrometer, ceilometer, radiosonde
13. Why is Doppler radar better than conventional radar?can give wind speed in addition to location of
precipitation
14. What are the different types of isopleths?isobar, isotherm
15. What do isobars that are close together represent?very strong winds
16. How accurate are long-term forecasts.not very accurate
17. How do thunderstorms form?abundant source of moisture in the atmosphere, mechanism to lift the air, air
around the rising air must be unstable
18. How are thunderstorms classified?air-mass (uneven heating of Earth’s surface, most common type) and frontal
(when two different air masses meet)
19. What makes thunderstorms severe? A continuous supply of moisture; increasing instability of the air mass
20. How does lightening happen?negatively charged stepped leader comes from the sky, a positively charged
return stroke comes up from the ground and they meet to light the channel
21. What should you do in the event of thunderstorms? What if you’re caught outside?
22. When are tornadoes most likely to occur?in the spring in late afternoon or evening
23. How are tornadoes classified?on the Fujita scale (F0-F5); by path of destruction, wind speed and duration
24. What should you do in the event of a tornado?
25. What are other names of tropical cyclones? Hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones
26. How are hurricanes classified? Saffir-Simpson scale (1-5); wind speed, air pressure in the center, potential for
property damage
27. What should you do in the event of a hurricane?