knowt logo

Storms Review

Air Parcel

  • for an air parcel to rise, it must be warmer (and therefore, less dense) than the air around it

  • once it starts to rise, it cools

    • increases air parcels relative humidity

      • absolute humidity stays the because that is just the total amount of water vapor in the air

  • when an air parcel reaches a relative humidity of 100%, it’s saturated with water

    • this is called the dew point

  • once the air parcel cools lower than the dew point, the water will condense and precipitation will occur

  • this condensation causes energy to be released as latent heat

  • as an air parcel rises through the atmosphere, the relative humidity will increase

Storms

  • when two air masses (one cold and one warm) collide, a severe thunderstorm is produced

  • air-mass:

    • key criteria required to form it:

      • inflow of warm, moist air (like tropical climates or late afternoons in the summer)

    • characteristics that differentiate it from other thunderstorm types:

      • local thunderstorms and only last for a short amount of time

  • severe:

    • key criteria required to form it:

      • two air masses (a cold and warm front) collide to cause more intense updrafts of warm air and resulting downdrafts of cold air

    • characteristics that differentiate it from other thunderstorm types:

      • must have either:

        1. high winds (>58 mph)

        2. large hail (at least 1” diameter)

        3. generate a tornado/tornadoes

  • supercell:

    • key criteria required to form it:

      • extremely large updrafts of warm air

      • rotation of the updrafts to create a vortex

    • characteristics that differentiate it from other thunderstorm types:

      • rotation of the updrafts and tilting of the storm are key criteria that differentiate it from a severe thunderstorm

Storms Review

Air Parcel

  • for an air parcel to rise, it must be warmer (and therefore, less dense) than the air around it

  • once it starts to rise, it cools

    • increases air parcels relative humidity

      • absolute humidity stays the because that is just the total amount of water vapor in the air

  • when an air parcel reaches a relative humidity of 100%, it’s saturated with water

    • this is called the dew point

  • once the air parcel cools lower than the dew point, the water will condense and precipitation will occur

  • this condensation causes energy to be released as latent heat

  • as an air parcel rises through the atmosphere, the relative humidity will increase

Storms

  • when two air masses (one cold and one warm) collide, a severe thunderstorm is produced

  • air-mass:

    • key criteria required to form it:

      • inflow of warm, moist air (like tropical climates or late afternoons in the summer)

    • characteristics that differentiate it from other thunderstorm types:

      • local thunderstorms and only last for a short amount of time

  • severe:

    • key criteria required to form it:

      • two air masses (a cold and warm front) collide to cause more intense updrafts of warm air and resulting downdrafts of cold air

    • characteristics that differentiate it from other thunderstorm types:

      • must have either:

        1. high winds (>58 mph)

        2. large hail (at least 1” diameter)

        3. generate a tornado/tornadoes

  • supercell:

    • key criteria required to form it:

      • extremely large updrafts of warm air

      • rotation of the updrafts to create a vortex

    • characteristics that differentiate it from other thunderstorm types:

      • rotation of the updrafts and tilting of the storm are key criteria that differentiate it from a severe thunderstorm

robot