Understanding Weather Carin Miranda Smyrna Middle School Winter 2013

Water in the Air When air reaches its dew point relative humidity is at 100%

Clouds Nimbostratus clouds will bring light to heavy continuous rainy weather. Cumulonimbus clouds are large thunderstorm clouds that produce precipitation. Altocumulus clouds are puffy mid-level clouds. Cirrus clouds are high clouds made of ice crystals.

Precipitation Nimbo means rain Sleet-Starts as rain then freezes in the air. Hail-Forms when precipitation is sent back up into the clouds many times.

Air Masses Barometer measures air pressure Continental tropical (cT) dry and warm Maritime tropical (mT) wet and warm C=dry P=cold m=wet t=warm

Fronts Warm front-warm air moves over cold air and replaces it. Stationary front-Not moving. Brings many days of cloudy, wet weather. Cold front-cold air mass displaces a warm air mass. Occluded front-warm air mass is caught between two cold air masses and is forced to rise. Lots of precipitation.

Meteorology Images of weather systems on television come from weather satellites. The lines connecting points of equal pressure on weather maps are called isobars.