Module 3 Exam Study Guide: Thunderstorms, Tornadoes, and Hurricanes

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering the characteristics, lifecycles, and forecasting of thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes, as well as climate change factors.

Unstable air parcel

An air parcel that is warmer and less dense than the surrounding air, causing it to rise, typically occurring when moist air is at the surface and cooler air is aloft.

Cumulus stage

The first stage of an ordinary air mass storm characterized by updrafts and cloud growth.

Mature stage

The second stage of an ordinary air mass storm featuring heavy rain, lightning, strong winds, and the presence of both updrafts and downdrafts.

Dissipating stage

The final stage of an air mass storm where downdrafts dominate and the storm weakens.

Overshooting top

A cloud feature created when a strong updraft pushes the cloud above the tropopause into the stratosphere.

Arcus cloud

The scientific name for a shelf cloud, which forms from a gust front lifting warm air ahead of a storm.

Squall lines

Long lines of thunderstorms that can be very severe, bringing heavy rain, strong winds, lightning, and sometimes tornadoes.

Rear inflow jet

An aspect of the squall line model where the rear downdraft brings in dry air and strengthens damaging winds.

Lightning

An electrical discharge that forms from charge separation caused by ice particle collisions inside a cloud.

Tornado

A violently rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground, typically between $50$ and $500$ meters wide.

Doppler radar

The type of radar used to measure tornado winds during a storm.

Enhanced Fujita Scale

The scale used for post-storm analysis of tornadoes based on damage surveys.

Waterspout

A tornado over water composed of rotating air, water vapor, and spray.

Tropics

The region of Earth located between $23.5^\circ\text{N}$ and $23.5^\circ\text{S}$, where seasons are defined by the sun's angle and solar energy.

Tropical wave

A low-pressure disturbance that moves from east to west across the tropics.

Eyewall

The part of a hurricane that contains the strongest winds, heaviest rainfall, and most intense thunderstorms.

Atlantic hurricane season

The period running from June $1$ to November $30$.

Saffir-Simpson scale

The scale used to categorize hurricanes from categories $1$ to $5$ based on wind speed.

Hurricane Watch

A notification issued $48$ hours in advance of expected hurricane conditions.

Hurricane Warning

A notification issued $36$ hours before expected hurricane conditions.

Middle-latitude cyclone

A cold-core weather system formed along fronts, distinguishing it from the warm-core powered hurricane.

Storm surge

A rise in sea level caused by strong winds pushing water toward the shore.

Climatological forecast

A forecasting technique that uses long-term averages to predict weather.

Persistence forecasting

A forecasting technique that assumes current weather conditions will continue unchanged.

Analog method

A forecasting technique that compares current atmospheric patterns to similar past patterns.

El Niño

A climate pattern that brings wetter conditions to the southern U.S. and milder winters to the north.

Albedo

The reflectivity of a surface; higher levels reflect more sunlight and cool the surface, while lower levels absorb heat and warm it.

Milankovitch cycles

A theory of climate change driven by eccentricity, precession, and obliquity.