Weather and Climate

WEATHER UNIT

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

These are the terms and concepts needed for the successful completion of the weather unit.

Vocabulary:

weather

climate

barometer

anemometer

Coriolis effect

dew point

conduction, convection, radiation

humidity

condensation

evaporation

transpiration

saturation

cold front, warm front, stationary front

troposphere

wind, wind belts, jet stream

Concepts:

Difference between land and sea breeze

How heat is transferred throughout atmosphere

Four factors cause wind

Cloud types

Air mass and how affects weather in the northeast

Interactions between warm and cold fronts

High and low pressure

Four factors cause weather

Fog types and how fog “burns off”

Weather notes

Weather – changing conditions of the atmosphere

Climate – weather in an area over a period of time

Atmosphere - layers of molecules surrounding earth

troposphere – all weather happens here

stratosphere

OZONE

mesosphere

thermoshpere

exosphere

Four factors cause weather

temperature, moisture, air pressure, wind - all are interrelated

Temperature – measured with thermometer – fahrenheit, celsius, kelvin

boiling point 212F, 100C

freezing point 32F, 0C

sun heats surface unevenly - what happens to air when it warms up? To cool air?

temperature barrier where condensation occurs - why cumulus clouds have flat bottoms - dew point

Moisture

humidity – amount of water vapor in air

warm air holds more moisture than cool air

saturation point – temperature at which air can no longer hold moisture

dew point – temperature at which condensation occurs

saturation – something holding all it can

Air pressure – how many molecules are in the air in a given location

air – 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% other

High pressure means good weather - air pressure is high, prevents moisture from rising, cooling and forming clouds

Low pressure means bad weather - pressure is low, allows moisture to rise, forming clouds

barometer measures air pressure

Wind – movement of air

caused by temperature differences, interaction between cold and warm fronts and air pressure differences (high--> low pressure)

land breeze vs. sea breeze

jet streams - Coriolis effect

anemometer – measure wind speeds

Conduction – direct transfer of heat from one object to another

Convection – transfer of heat in a fluid(liquid or gas) - convection current - rise of warm sinking of cool creates current (rapidly forms tornado)

Radiation – transfer of heat in empty space

Water cycle

evaporation – water to water vapor

transpiration – evaporation from green plants

saturation – holding all it can

condensation – water vapor to water

precipitation – falling of water

Front – leading edge of warm or cool air mass

warm front, cold front, stationary - weather event when warm air replaces cool air? When cool air replaces warm air?

Energy for a storm – sun, condensation, and wind

Convergence – coming together

Divergence – moving apart

Air masses affect weather in north east

maritime tropical – warm moist air

maritime polar – cool moist air

continental tropical – hot dry air

continental polar – cool dry air

Clouds – collections of water droplets and dirt

cumulus – puffy

stratus – layered

stratocumulus – puffy and layered

nimbostratus – rain clouds

cumulonimbus – thunderheads

altostratus – midlevel

altocumulus – midlevel

cirrus – high, wispy

cirrocumulus – high puffy

cirrostratus – high layered

Fog – a cloud on the ground

ground fog – clear nights little wind dew point

valley fog

advection fog – fog on coast

upslope fog - fog on mountain side

sea smoke – fog over ocean

precipitation fog - fog when it rains