What will happen to a continental polar air mass that remains over warm water for a few days?
What happens when 2 or more air masses meet?
What is formed when 2 or more air masses meet?
When 2 air masses meet, what happens to the warmer air mass?
The image below shows types of air masses and their characteristics.
Answer both practice questions on page 7:
What is true about all continental air masses? What is true about all maritime air masses?
What might happen if an arctic air mass passed over warmer ocean water?
Complete the check-in activity #1 on page 9 to make sure you understand the terms continental, maritime, tropical, and polar.
Lesson 5: Air Mass Interactions
List the objective of this lesson:
What are air masses and what causes them to have their specific characteristics?
Define front-
How are cold fronts shown on a weather map?
How are warm fronts shown on a weather map?
Weather changes as a result of moving air masses that have different temperatures and levels of moisture.
Cold Fronts:
• Occur when _________ air moves under __________ air
• The cold air pushes _______ the warm air
• When the warm air hits the cooler upper air, it __________
• The moisture in the air condenses, forming _____________
• If there are big temperature differences, ______________ _____________ may form
Cold Fronts are characterized by temperature drop, increased wind, heavy precipitation, and lower humidity.
Warm Fronts are characterized by increased temperatures, increased humidity, light precipitation, and lower wind speeds.
Make sure you practice the Interactive on Question #1 on page 6.
Look at the pictures above, which air mass will always rise- warm or cold?
The air behind a warm front is warmer and more humid. With this in mind, the air behind a cold front is _____________ and less ____________.
Decide which type of front passed through the area in the following two examples from the video on Page 7:
1. The weather starts out warm, with some humidity, and low winds. It’s partly cloudy and there is no precipitation. As the front passes through the area, the temperature drops, the wind speed increases, and it rains heavily during a thunderstorm. After the front has passed, the temperature has decreased by 20 degrees, the humidity is lower, and the sky is clear.
Cold Front or Warm Front (circle one)
2. The temperature starts out at 65 degrees, with some humidity, the wind speed at nine miles per hour with partly cloudy skies. As the front passes over the area, the temperature increases to 72 degrees, the humidity increases, the wind speed increases, and it rains. After the front passes, the temperature has increased to 82 degrees, the humidity has increased to 72 percent, and the wind speed is lower. And it is partly cloudy.
Cold Front or Warm Front (circle one)
On the Check-In on page 8, answer question #2:
What happens when a front passes through an area?
Lesson 6: Predicting Weather
List the objective of this lesson:
Define the Key Words on page 1:
• Weather Forecast-
• Weather Model-
Forecasts are not very accurate when made far in advance. Why is the most recent forecast the most accurate?
Scientists look at many data points to make weather predictions. They use satellites to gather data about various weather conditions, such as: (found on page 4)
•
• Wind speed
•
•
• Air pressure
With the data gathered from the satellites and other tools, scientists use computers to run weather model simulations to predict what the weather will be like.
Why do scientists gather data and make models about hurricanes?
Which forecast would be better to use when planning an event, a 2-day forecast or a 10-day forecast? Why?
Answer both question on page 9:
What is the difference between current weather and a forecast?
What are some tools that help scientists make weather forecasts?
If a continental polar air mass remains over warm water for a few days, it will become more moist and unstable. This can lead to the formation of thunderstorms and heavy precipitation.
When two or more air masses meet, they create a front.
A front is formed when two or more air masses meet.
When two air masses meet, the warmer air mass will rise over the cooler air mass.
All continental air masses are typically dry and have low levels of moisture.
All maritime air masses are typically moist and have high levels of moisture.
If an arctic air mass passed over warmer ocean water, it may become slightly more moist but will generally maintain its cold and dry characteristics.
The objective of this lesson is to understand how air masses interact and how they affect weather patterns.
Air masses are large bodies of air that have similar temperature and moisture characteristics. They develop their specific characteristics through their origin regions and the surface over which they form.
A front is a boundary between two air masses of different temperatures.
Cold fronts are shown on a weather map as a blue line with triangular spikes pointing towards the warmer air mass.
Warm fronts are shown on a weather map as a red line with semicircles pointing towards the colder air mass.
The air behind a warm front is warmer and more humid. With this in mind, the air behind a cold front is colder and less humid.
The air mass that will always rise is the warm air mass.
The air behind a cold front is colder and less humid.
Example 1: Cold Front
Example 2: Warm Front
When a front passes through an area, it can bring changes in temperature, wind speed, humidity, and precipitation.
The objective of this lesson is to learn about predicting weather and understand the key terms related to weather forecasting.
Weather Forecast: A prediction of future weather conditions.
Weather Model: A computer simulation that uses current weather data and historical patterns to predict future weather conditions.
The most recent forecast is the most accurate because it takes into account the most up-to-date weather data and can adjust predictions based on current conditions.
Satellites are used to gather data about temperature, wind speed, precipitation, and air pressure.
Scientists gather data and make models about hurricanes to better understand their behavior, track their paths, and predict their intensity.
A 2-day forecast would be better to use when planning an event because it provides a shorter-term prediction that is more likely to be accurate. A 10-day forecast is more subject to change and less reliable.
Current weather refers to the current conditions at a specific time, while a forecast predicts future weather conditions.
Some tools that help scientists make weather forecasts include weather satellites, weather balloons, weather radar, and weather buoys.