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''Water Vapor and Air Masses''
Precipitation
Water falling to the Earth surface?
Hydrolic cycle
movement of water from the Earth surface, into the air, and back to the surface.
Rain
drops of liquid water falling from clouds to the Earth.
Raindrops
drops of water larger than 0.5 mm in diameter.
Snowflakes
ice crystals falling from the clouds.
Bergeron-Findeisen process
How meteorologist understand why snow can fall on a mountain top while rain falls on an adjacent valley.
Collision coalescence process
larger than normal condensation nuclei cause the formation of giant cloud droplets. As these droplets drift onward, they collide with smaller droplets and stick to them, growing bigger in the process. Eventually, the growing droplets is becoming too big to remain suspended in the air, and they begin to fall. What is this process called?
Drizzle
any liquid precipitation between 0.2 mm in 0.5 mm in diameter is called what?
Freezing rain
when supercooled raindrops touch a freezing surface, they. will turn to ice this phenomenon is called what?
Sleet
precipitation of tiny balls of ice or ice pellets?
Snow
this form of precipitation is freezing ice that falls to the ground.
Dendrite
a sector plate that develops feather branches on its arms, forming a leaf or star shape pattern.
Dry snow
What snow that does not stick to surfaces.
Wet snow
heavy snow that sticks to surfaces and it's really hard to shovel.
Flurries
brief period of light snowfall that results in little or no accumulation.
Snow squall
Brief but intense snowfall
Heavy snowfall
accumulates 4 inches or more in 12 hours or less or accumulate 6 inches or more in 24 hours or less is what kind of snowfall?
Blizzard
occurs when heavy snow and winds of at least 35 miles an hour prevail for three hours or more.
Hail
consists of layered balls of ice that formed in strong thunderstorms, which occur most often in the spring and summer
Rime
milky ice in hail
Glaze
the transparent part of hail.
Drought
when an area receives abnormally low precipitation over a relatively long period This area is experiencing what?
Meteorological drought
is you defined by comparing areas current precipitation with the areas typical precipitation and by analyzing how long the dry period lasts is what kind of drought?
Agricultural drought
occurs when precipitation cannot supply enough moisture to the ground to support an areas crops.
Hydrological drought
occurs when a meteorological drought affects an areas ground water, streams, lakes, and reservoir,.
Socioeconomic drought
this drought is not based on the physical water shortage but on the water shortages affected on people Is what?
air mass
what is a large body of air with relatevely uniform temperature, humidity, and pressure.
Source region
an air mass forms when a body of air remains still long enough to take on the traits of the Eart’s surface over which it has formed; this area of the surface is the air masses what?
Maritime tropical air masses
form over tropical and subtropical waters.
Continental polar air masses
originate over cold regions such as Northern Canada or Alaska.
Air mass weather
sometimes an air mass remains stationary over a region for a long time if this occurs, the region experiences what?
front
boundary between a warm and a cold air mass.
Temperature, humidity, and pressure
three factors that affect the density of an air mass?
Cumulonimbus
what types of clouds are typically seen along a cold front?
Warm front
when the warm is advancing, this type of front is called what?
Cold front
a cold air mass moves into the territory of a warm air mass, the boundary is called what?
Stationary front
When two air masses push against each other, but neither one advances it is a what?
cold front
does the cold or warm fronts move faster
Occluded fronts
combination of three air masses forms aa Y-shaped front called what?
Frontal cyclone
a low that forms along a front is called a what?
