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Air Masses and Weather Fronts

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Presentation on theme: "Air Masses and Weather Fronts"— Presentation transcript:

1 Air Masses and Weather Fronts

2 Air Masses Air mass – large body of air that takes on the characteristics of the area of which it forms (source region) Over land – drier Over water – more humid Also takes on temperature of source region

3 Air Masses - Origins What do you think Air Mass #1 would be like in April? Cold/Warm? Moist/Dry? Why? What do you think Air Mass #2 would be like in April? Why?

4 Air Masses - Origins Maritime tropical (mT) Continental tropical (cT)
warm and humid Continental tropical (cT) warm and dry Maritime polar (mP) cold and humid Continental polar (cP) cold and dry Arctic (A) even colder!

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6 Air masses don’t just affect the US!!

7 Worksheet – Transparency 18
Answer questions on the back

8 Weather Fronts Form where two air masses with different characteristics collide Four types Cold Warm Occluded Stationary

9 Cold Front Cold air moves in on existing warm air (blue triangles)
Rapidly rising warm air  cools, condenses Thunderstorms common

10 Cold Front

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13 Warm Front Warm air invades area of cool air (red circles)
Warm air rises over cool air  cools, condenses Rain common

14 Warm Front

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16 Cold Front vs. Warm Front
View Animation

17 Occluded Front Warm air gets trapped between two cold fronts (red circles and blue triangles/purple circles and triangles) Warm air forced up  cools, condenses Complex weather, rain/snow, thunderstorms

18 Occluded Front

19 Stationary Front No mixing (blue triangles and red circles)
Air masses push against each other, but neither moves Parallel winds Hard to predict weather

20 Weather fronts from Monday

21 Worksheet – Transparency 19
Fill out the questions on the back. Color the front if it helps you.


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