Adiabatic: "occurring without gain or loss of heat" Adiabatic Lapse Rates Adiabatic: "occurring without gain or loss of heat" Adiabatic cooling and Heating (Expansion or compression: adiabatic cooling and heating is a temperature change without the addition or removal of heat.

Adiabatic Lapse Rates Air rising cools because of expansion of the air. This cooling causes the air to reach dew point and form clouds. Air sinking compresses and heats up causing a drying out of the air.

Adiabatic Lapse Rates Moist air cools slower than dry air when it rises. Why? Hint (Think of energy) When moist air condenses it releases energy into the atmosphere which causes some warming.

Cloud formation Condensation nuclei: Liquid or solid particles, such as those in smoke or dust, that provide a surface upon which water vapor can condense into cloud droplets or form ice crystals. Water evaporates, rises and cools, reaches dew point, condenses and form a cloud. Fog: Condensed water vapor in cloudlike masses lying close to the ground and limiting visibility.

Cloud Formation Radiation Fog: Fog produced results from the air near the ground being cooled to saturation by contact with the cold ground. The cooling of the ground results from night time loss of heat from the Earth to space (terrestrial radiation).

Cloud Formation Advection Fog: Occurs when warm, moist air moves over a cold surface and the air cools to below its dew point. Frost: A covering of ice produced by water vapor freezing on exposed surfaces when the air temperature falls below the frost point.

Cloud Types Cirrus: generally refer to atmospheric clouds that are characterized by thin, wisplike strands.

Cloud Types Stratus Clouds: is a cloud belonging to a class characterized by horizontal layering with a uniform base Why are some clouds darker than others?

Cloud Types Cumulus Clouds: are a type of cloud with noticeable vertical development and clearly defined edges. Cumulus means "heap" or "pile" in Latin

Clouds Types Nimbus- means dark rain cloud. Alto- means 2000-7000 meters high.

Types of precipitation Sleet: raindrops that freeze in the air when falling from a cloud. Freezing Rain: raindrops freeze when they hit the ground because the ground is below freezing.

Types of precipitation Hail: frozen raindrops that are kept aloft by strong winds until they are to heavy to stay up. Snow: ice crystals in a cloud collide and clump together.

Precipitation Acid Rain: rain containing acids that form in the atmosphere when industrial gas emissions (especially sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides) combine with water Rain: precipitation of liquid water drops with diameters greater than 0.5 mm (0.02 inch). Smaller is called drizzle. Rain cleans the atmosphere.

Weather Modifications Cloud seeding: a form of weather modification, is the attempt to change the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds, by dispersing (dry ice or more commonly, silver iodide aerosols) into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei,

Storms Thunderstorms: A storm of heavy rain accompanied by lightning, thunder, wind, and sometimes hail. Thunderstorms occur when moist air near the ground becomes heated, especially in the summer, and rises, forming cumulonimbus clouds that produce precipitation.

Storms http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PcnCWZP7l0

Storms Lightning: a flash of light in the sky caused by the discharge of atmospheric electricity from one cloud to another or between a cloud and the earth atmosphere is heated by the electrical discharge to the order of 55,000 degrees F The average lightning bolt is 6-8 miles  long. The maximum distance you can hear thunder is as short as two (2) miles and seldom exceeds twelve (12) miles.

Storms 30 Second / 30 Minute Rule -  "Flash-To-Bang"   This method suggest that when you see a lightning flash, count the seconds to the bang of thunder, then divide the number of seconds by five sound travels (5sec/mile) (3 sec/km) to give the distance in miles from you to the lightning. For example: you hear thunder 30 seconds after you see lightning, the distance is 6 miles.  Thus the reason for the first number of the 30/30 rule.

Storms Tornadoes: a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air which is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud.

Storms Tornados: May and June are the peak months. April appears to be the deadliest month—an average of 27 tornados. April 3-4, 1974, 148 twisters struck 13 states causing more than 300 deaths. Can reach speeds of up to 300 m.p.h.

Storms Hurricanes: 1. A severe tropical cyclone having winds greater than 64 knots (74 miles per hour; 119 km/hr), originating in the equatorial regions of the Atlantic Ocean or Caribbean Sea or eastern regions of the Pacific Ocean, traveling north, northwest, or northeast from its point of origin.

Storms Tropical low pressure. Greatest damage is caused by the storm surge.

Storms Central area is a sinking column of air called the eye. 300km-600km in diameter Winds are most violent just outside the eye wall. Can reach eight miles into the air.

Storms Water vapor, sucked upward around a tropical depression, creates heat energy when it condenses to form rain. The high-altitude heat triggers exaggerated updrafts, which suck up even more water vapor (warm water is the fuel).