Lecture Notes Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards from lecture notes.

Orographic Lifting

Air is cooling as it rises up the windward side of the mountains, warms as it descends, thus this process produces the rain shadow over here on the dry side or the leeward side of the mountains.

Prevailing Winds

Wind direction plus intersecting topography.

Northeast Trades

Prevailing winds at fifteen degrees north.

Frontal Lifting

When we have two different air masses meeting and they have different temperatures, such that warm air is forced aloft as cold air pushes underneath it and or as warm air bumps into cold air that's stationary.

Convergent Lifting

Mechanism we see is helping amplify the ITCZ. The Northeast and the Southeast trades converging, and you've got your warm air rising off the surface there due to convection.

Puget Sound Convergence Zone

An area of convergent lifting on the leeward side of the Olympics.

Stratus Clouds

Flat, sheet-like clouds with minimal vertical development.

Cumulus Clouds

Clouds starting to show vertical development, appearing puffy.

Cirrus Clouds

Thin, wispy clouds found at high altitudes, composed of ice crystals and often indicating a change in weather.

Cumulonimbus

Vertically developed, rain-producing cloud associated with thunderstorms.

Nimbostratus

Relatively thin, rain-producing cloud.

Lenticular Clouds

Mountain wave clouds that appear to hover, formed by air being displaced over mountains.

Continental Polar Air (cP)

Dry and cold air mass.

Maritime Polar Air (mP)

Relatively cool and humid air mass.

Maritime Tropical Air

Super warm, wet, humid air.

Front

The boundary between two different air masses.

Cold Front

Warm air in place at the surface with colder air invading or moving in.

Warm Front

Warm air is behind it,The front is drawn ahead again of the block of warm air because the fronts are named for the air behind it.

Stationary Front

Air that's just hanging out, Different temperatures,doesn't wanna mix. We can start to develop a low disturbance along the boundary

Mid latitude cyclone

Low pressure center,cold front, warm front