Studied by 8 people
Define convection currents
Circulation of liquids or gases due to uneven heating
List the four ways cloud formation can occur.
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Raging Otters Fight Weasels
Rising convection currents
Orographic lifting
Frontal Wedging
wind convergence
All precipitation of liquid water is called _______________
rain
Define drizzle
Very light rain Small droplets of rain falling slowly.
Define Freezing Rain
Supercooled water that falls as rain and then freezes on the surface it contacts.
Define Ice Storm
A freezing rainstorm
Name 3 types of solid precipitation
Snow, Sleet, Hail
Describe how snow forms
Water vapor freezes directly into a solid.
What is sleet?
Sleet is liquid water that freezes before it hits the ground. It looks like small pellets of ice.
What is hail?
Hail is frozen precipitation that falls from thunderstorms.
This storm produces thunder and lightning.
Thunderstorms
This storm can produce gusty winds, heavy rain, and sometimes hail.
Thunderstorms
These storms occur in the winter and produce frozen precipitation.
Winter Storms
These storms are not officially named, but are often named on the Weather Channel.
Winter Storms
This is a violent rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground.
Tornado
The largest of these can produce winds of up to 300 mph.
Tornado
A large rotating storm with high speed winds that forms over warm waters.
Hurricane
These storms are also called a cyclone or typhoon.
Hurricane
These storms are officially named alphabetically each year by NOAA
Hurricane
What is NOAA?
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Precipitation
Any form of water that falls from clouds and reaches Earth's surface.
coalesce
to come together
Define orographic lifting
Movement and lifting of warm air over mountains
Define Frontal wedging
a warm air mass lifted by a denser cold air mass
Define wind convergence
collision of horizontal air currents
Stratus Clouds
clouds that form in flat layers
Alto
Middle
Strato
layer
cloud
a mass of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air
adiabatic cooling
the cooling effect of reduced pressure on air as it rises higher in the atmosphere and expands
condensation nuclei
Microscopic particles on which water vapor condenses to form cloud droplets.
freezing nuclei
solid particles that serve as cores for the formation of ice crystals
supercooled water
Liquid water below freezing point
Cumulus Clouds
clouds that look like fluffy, rounded piles of cotton
Cirrus Clouds
wispy, feathery clouds
low level clouds
stratus, stratocumulus, nimbostratus
middle level clouds
altostratus, altocumulus
high level clouds
cirrus, cirrocumulus, cirrostratus
vertically developed clouds
cumulus, cumulonimbus
fog
A cloud at ground level.
drizzle
very light rain
nimbus clouds
rain clouds
What type of cloud causes heavy rain, snow, or hail?
Cumulonimbus
Cirro
Curls
A change of state directly from the solid to the gaseous state without first becoming a liquid.
Sublimation
A change of state directly from a gas to a solid without first becoming a liquid.
Deposition
The change of a gaseous vapor into the liquid state as the result of decreasing temperature.
Condensation
The process of vaporization when a liquid below its boiling point becomes a gas
Evaporation
The temperature where water vapor condenses into liquid water.
Define dew point
A thin film of water that has condensed on the surface of objects near the ground.
Define Dew
water vapor; evaporation
Most water in our atmosphere enters as ____________________ _______________________ by ______________________.
solid, liquid, gas
List the three states of matter
The change of state from solid to liquid by the application of heat.
Melting
The change from the liquid state to the solid state by lowering a liquid's temperature.
Freezing
Evaporation and Boiling
What are the two types of vaporization that can occur in liquids?
boiling
When a liquid reaches its boiling point and becomes a gas, the vaporization is called__________________.
evaporation
When a liquid is below its boiling point and becomes a gas, the vaporization is called _________________________.
constant motion
Water molecules are in _________________________ ________________________ in all three states of matter.
Wind increases the rate of evaporation by blowing away the molecules of water that have escaped into the air.
How does wind affect the speed of evaporation?
humidity
The amount of water vapor in the air
clouds
When water is a liquid or solid suspended in our atmosphere, it appears as ________________________.
Temperature
What affects how much water vapor the atmosphere can hold?
A thin film of water that has condensed and frozen on the surface of objects near the ground.
Define Frost
Note 
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