Severe Weatherr Test

High pressure system

-surrounded by warmer air -little to no winds -clear skies -lack of cloud cover increases temperature  -cooler nights -winds blow away from the center -move clockwise

Low pressure system

-surrounded by colder air masses

-strong winds

-cloud cover (clouds block in the little amount of UV rays making the heat be trapped so its warm at night)

-clouds block the sun’s rays causing day time temperature to be lower

-warmer nights

-winds blow towards the center of the low pressure area 

-move counterclockwise

Precipitation

the act of water falling from clouds

how does precipitation form

-Water droplets within a cloud become to heavy and fall back down -Most precipitation begin as snow high in the clouds -As the snowflakes fall lower and lower with warmer and warmer air, they become raindrops

rain (falls when?)

-falls when temperatures near ground level are above 32 degrees fahrenheit

snow (falls when)?

-falls when temperatures near ground level are below 32 degrees fahrenheit

if the temperature on ground level is above 32 degrees why might the rain still freeze?

because as the rain is falling it passes through layers that are very cold making the rain even colder and makes it freeze

sleet

-liquid rain passes through a freezing layer near the Earth’s surface forming small ice pellets

hail

-falling cloud droplets are pushed upward by warm air 

-as they move back up in the cloud, they gather more droplets getting larger and larger until they fall back down as large chunks of ice

heat waves

-occur when air is trapped in a place and is continually exposed to heat -difficult for weather systems to move in a cool things off -high pressure also prevents cloud formation (no cloud coverage - temperatures are very high)

heat waves high or low pressure system

high pressure zone

thunderstorms PROCESS

warm air rises rapidly, and cool air sinks within the cloud

-as the warm air and cool air move, ie particles begin to smash into each other, building on electrical charge

-positive charges move to the top of the cloud while negative charges move to the bottom

-because opposite attract, the negative charge at the bottom of the storm cloud wants to link up with the grounds positive charge

-charges from the cloud and the ground meet with an electrical current connecting them

why does thunder occur

thunder occurs as a result of the rapid heating of air around a lightning bolt 

what is a blizzard?

giant smowstorms

qualifications needed to be considered a blizzard

1. 35 mph winds

2. lasts for at least 3 hours

3. visibility must be less than ¼ mile

tornadoes

A violent rotating column of air that makes contact with the ground In a severe thunderstorm, winds at different heights blow in different directions Rotation column forms within the cloud that is parallel to the ground

hurricanes

-a large rotating storm is forming over warm waters in the atlantic ocean

-warm, moist air rises rapidly, allowing more air to take its place

-wind continually blows the warm air around a central location, formatting an organized storm system

why are hurricanes dangerous

-because their fuel is water

-as long as they remain over warm water, they have the potential to get stronger