* aka air pressure * Caused by * Units * 14.7 psi * Why aren’t we crushed? * Air pushing out * Used to it * Decreases with altitude/elevation

* Air moves from high pressure to low pressure * Wind * Larger pressure differences = stronger winds * Named for direction * Wind chill Wind chill * What temp. feels like to us * Humans only * Cause * Related to dangerousness of wind and cold temp. * Frostbite * Hypothermia

* Land warms/cools faster * Hot air rises * Lower pressure over land * Breeze from ocean (high to low pressure) * Cools the land * Opposite at night

* What? * Warm winter winds * Dramatic temperature changes * Where? * Mountains * Moist air * How? * Clouds formed * Heat released * Warmer air than without clouds * Red belt

* Similar temp. and humidity * Air that has stayed in a place * Quickly change because they move * Named for where they form * Maritime vs. Continental * Tropical vs. Polar

3. What is wind chill and why is it important to humans? 4. What creates wind? 5. How are Chinook winds created? 6. How can the wind be a benefit to you when you live on the ocean shoreline? 7. A maritime tropical air mass exists over Colorado today, what would the air be like?

* Air masses don’t mix * Front = boundary between them * What happens? * Warm, less dense air moves up * Cold, more dense air sinks * Types * Cold * Warm * Stationary * Occluded * Type of cloud can tell you what type of front

* Form in severe thunderstorms * Wind at different altitudes is different speeds * Creates swirling winds * Eventually become vertical * Swirling cloud reaches ground = tornado * Not on ground for long * Extremely low pressure * Winds mph * Not well understood

8. Describe how warm, cold, stationary and occluded fronts are different. 9. Explain how a tornado is formed. 10. Where would you probably not find tornadoes and why?

* Unequal heating at different latitudes * Equator (lower latitudes) * Warmer air * Rises, lower pressure * Moves towards poles * Sinks when cools, higher pressure * Convection cells * Patterns of moving air and high/low pressure * Create areas of high and low winds * Jet stream * High speed wind * Upper troposphere, lower stratosphere * No consistent path * Effect weather patterns

* Wind moves in a straight line * Earth’s rotation * Causes appearance of curving * Northern Hemisphere = clockwise (right) * Southern Hemisphere = counter-clockwise (left)

* Large weather systems * Impacted by Coriolis effect * Cyclone * Low pressure * Pulls air in and upward * Produces storms * Anti-cyclone * High pressure * Air moves out and downward * Clear skies

* Winds at least 74 mph * Form over tropics * Warm, moist air forms clouds * Rotating * More water evaporates * Creates low pressure “eye” * Lacks wind * Gets larger with more evaporation * Loses energy once it hits land * No more “fuel” * Cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes