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