Chapter 9: Weather Vocabulary Topic 7 in Textbook/Workbook Page 126

Assignment Due Friday April 11th All 30 vocabulary words Words and definitions are to be copied onto loose leaf. 7 Vocabulary Words illustrated You may pick 7 of the vocabulary words to explain using a picture. Typed vocab words & clip art pictures will not be accepted. This assignment will count as a test grade!

Example Precipitation 

Vocabulary Words

Air Mass A large body of air in the troposphere with similar characteristics of pressure, moisture, and temperature

Air Pressure Gradient The change in air pressure over a given area.

Anemometer A weather instrument used to measure wind speed.

Atmospheric, Barometric, or Air Pressure The weight of the overlying atmosphere pushing down on a given unit of area.

Atmospheric Transparency How transparent the atmosphere is to insolation; how easily can insolation pass through the air.

Barometer An instrument used to measure air pressure

Cloud Cover The fraction or percent of the total sky at a location that is covered by clouds.

Cold Front The interface of an advancing cold air mass and a warmer air mass. 

Cyclone A low-pressure portion of the troposphere that has air moving towards its center. Rotates counterclockwise. Includes: hurricanes & tornadoes, also called a low.

Cyclonic storm A large type of low-pressure storm system formed in the mid-latitudes.

Dew Point The temperature at which the air becomes saturated with water vapor and the relative humidity is 100%

Front The interface between two air masses of different characteristics.

Humidity The water vapor in the atmosphere

Isobar An isoline used on weather and climate maps that connect points of equal air pressure.

Jet Stream A concentrated curving band of high speed, easterly moving winds usually at the top of Earth’s troposphere.

Monsoon Cyclic and extreme weather changes caused by the shifting wind and pressure belts. Common in southwest Asia

Occluded front The boundary of opposing wedges of cold air masses formed when a cold front overtakes a warm front, lifting the warm air mass of Earth’s surface, forming mid-latitude cyclones

Planetary wind belt East-west zones on Earth where the wind blows from one direction much of the time. AKA prevailing winds.

Polar Front An ever-changing boundary between the colder air masses toward the poles and the warmer air masses toward the middle latitudes.

Precipitation Falling liquid or solid water from clouds toward Earth’s surface.

Probability The chance of some environmental event, such as rain or an earthquake occurring.

Psychromotor An instrument that is used to indirectly measure the amount of water vapor in the air, such as a sling psychrometer

Radar An instrument that uses radio/microwave electromagnetic radiation to observe many weather features such as precipitation, tornadoes, and hurricanes

Relative humidity The ratio of the amount of water vapor in the air to the maximum amount it can hold

Stationary Front A weather condition in which the boundary between two air masses remains in the same position

Station Model Cities and other weather station sites on weather maps represented by circles, with symbols in and around each circle that indicate the many weather variables.

Troposphere The part of the atmosphere immediately above Erath’s surface; where most weather changes occur.

Visibility The farthest distance at which one can see a prominent object at Earth’s surface with the naked eye; decreased by fog, air pollution, and precipitation.

Warm Front The boundary of an advancing warm air mass and a retreating wedge of a cooler air mass; characterized by a gentle slope, long periods of precipitation, and strato (layered) clouds.

Water Vapor Gaseous water in the atmosphere; also called moisture or steam.

Weather Variables Condition of the atmosphere such as temperature, air pressure, wind, moisture conditions, cloud cover, precipitation, and storms.