Chapter 18 2.

Responsible for lake-effect snows

Weather Patterns and a. cP air mass crosses the Great Lakes
Severe Storms b. Air picks up moisture from the lakes
c. Snow falls on the leeward shores of the lakes
b. Maritime tropical (mT)
Learning Objectives
1. Sources are the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean
After reading, studying, and discussing the chapter, students
2. Warm, moist, unstable air
should be able to:
3. Brings precipitation to the eastern United States
1. Explain what an air mass is.
2. Describe how air masses are classified.
3. Continental tropical (cT)
3. Describe the general weather associated with each air
a. Southwest and Mexico
mass type.
b. Hot, dry
4. Discuss the differences between warm fronts and cold
c. Seldom important outside the source region
fronts.
4. Maritime polar (mP)
5. Describe the primary mid-latitude weather-producing
a. Brings precipitation to the western mountains
systems.
b. Occasional influence in the northeastern United States
6.List the atmospheric conditions that produce
causes the "northeaster" in New England with its cold
thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes.
temperatures and snow
I. Air masses
II. Fronts
A. Characteristics
A. Boundary that separates air masses of different densities
1. Large body of air
1. Air masses retain their identities
a. 1600 kilometers (1000 miles) or more across
2. Warmer, less dense air forced aloft
b. Perhaps several kilometers thick
3. Cooler, denser air acts as wedge
2. Similar temperature at any given altitude
B. Types of fronts
3. Similar moisture at any given altitude
1. Warm front
4. Moves and affects a large portion of a continent
a. Warm air replaces cooler air
b. Shown on a map by a line with semicircles
B. Source region—the area where an air mass acquires its
c. Small slope (1:200)
properties
d. Clouds become lower as the front nears
C. Classification of an air mass
e. Slow rate of advance
1. Two criteria are used to classify air masses
f. Light-to-moderate precipitation
a. By the latitude of the source region
g. Gradual temperature increase with the passage of the front
1. Polar (P)
2. Cold front
a. High latitudes
a. Cold air replaces warm air
b. Cold
b. Shown on a map by a line with triangles
2. Tropical (T)
c. Twice as steep (1:100) as warm fronts
a. Low latitudes
d. Advances faster than a warm front
b. Warm
e. Associated weather is more violent than at a warm front
b. By the nature of the surface in the source region
1. Intensity of precipitation is greater
1. Continental (c)
2. Duration of precipitation is shorter
a. Form over land
f. Weather behind the front is dominated by
b. Likely to be dry
1. Cold air mass
2. Maritime (m)
2. Subsiding air
a. Originate over water
3. Clearing conditions
b. Humid air
3. Stationary front
2. Four basic types of air masses
a. Flow of air on both sides of the front is almost parallel to
a. Continental polar (cP)
the line of the front
b. Continental tropical (cT)
b. Surface position of the front does not move
c. Maritime polar (mP)
4. Occluded front
d. Maritime tropical (mT)
a. Active cold front overtakes a warm front
D. Air masses and weather
b. Cold air wedges the warm air upward
1. cP and mT air masses are the most important air masses
c. Weather is often complex
in North America, especially east of the Rockies
d. Precipitation is associated with warm air that is forced aloft
2. North America (east of the Rocky Mountains)
a. Continental polar (cP)
III. Middle-latitude cyclone
1. From northern Canada and interior of Alaska
A. Primary weather producer in the middle-latitudes
a. Winter brings cold, dry air
b. Summer brings cool relief
B. Life cycle
1. Forms along a front where air masses are moving parallel 1. Features
to the front in opposite directions a. Cumulonimbus clouds
a. Continental polar (cP) air is often north of the front b. Heavy rainfall
b. Maritime tropical (mT) air is often south of the front c. Lightning
2. Frontal surface takes on a wave shape with low pressure d. Occasional hail
centered at the apex of the wave 2. Occurrence
3. Flow of air is counterclockwise cyclonic circulation a. 2000 in progress at any one time
4. Warm front and cold front form b. 100,000 per year in the United States
5. Cold front catches up to warm front and produces an c. Most frequent in
occlusion 1. Florida
6. Warm sector is displaced aloft 2. Eastern Gulf Coast region
7. Pressure gradient weakens and fronts fade 3. Stages of development
8. Storm comes to an end a. All thunderstorms require
C. Idealized weather 1. Warm air
1. Middle-latitude cyclones move eastward across the United 2. Moist air
States 3. Instability (lifting)
a. First signs of their approach are in the western sky a. High surface temperatures
b. Require two to four days to pass over a region b. Most common in the afternoon and early evening
2. Largest weather contrasts occur in the spring b. Require continuous supply of warm air and moisture
3. Changes in weather associated with the passage of a 1. Each surge causes air to rise higher
middle-latitude cyclone 2. Updrafts and downdrafts form
a. Changes depend on the path of the storm c. Eventually, precipitation forms
b. Weather associated with fronts 1. Most active stage
1. Warm front 2. Gusty winds, lightning, hail
a. Clouds become lower and thicker 3. Heavy precipitation
b. Light precipitation d. Cooling effect of precipitation marks the end of
c. After the passage of a warm front thunderstorm activity
1. Winds become more southerly B. Tornadoes
2. After front passes, warmer temperature is 1. Local storm of short duration
experienced (mT air mass) 2. Features
2. Cold front a. Violent windstorm
a. Wall of dark clouds b. Rotating column of air that extends down from a
b. Heavy precipitation cumulonimbus cloud
1. Hail c. Low pressures inside causes the air to rush in
2. Occasional tornadoes d. Winds approach 480 kilometers (300 miles) per hour
c. After the passage of a cold front e. Smaller-suction vortices can form inside stronger
1. Wind becomes north to northwest tornadoes
2. Temperature drops as a cP air mass moves in 3. Occurrence and development
3. Clearing skies a. Average of 770 each year in the United States
D. Role of airflow aloft b. Most frequent from April through June
1. Cyclones and anticyclones c. Associated with severe thunderstorms
a. Generated by upper-level air flow d. Exact cause of tornado formation is not known
b. Maintained by upper-level air flow e. Conditions for the formation of tornadoes
c. Typically are found adjacent to one another 1. Occur most often along a cold front
2. Cyclone 2. During the spring months
a. Low-pressure system 3. Associated with huge thunderstorms called supercells
b. Surface convergence 4. Characteristics
c. Outflow (divergence) aloft sustains the low pressure a. Diameter between 150 and 600 meters (500 and
3. Anticyclone 2000 feet)
a. High-pressure system b. Speed across landscape is about 45 kilometers (30
b. Associated with cyclones miles) per hour
c. Surface divergence c. Cut about a 10-kilometer (6-mile) -long path
d. Convergence aloft d. Most move toward the northeast
e. Maximum winds range beyond 500 kilometers (310
miles) per hour
f. Intensity measured by the Fujita intensity scale
5. Tornado forecasting
IV. Severe weather types a. Difficult to forecast because of their small size
A. Thunderstorms
b. Tornado watch 2. Size and population density of the area affected
1. Alerts the public to the possibility of tornadoes 3. Shape of the ocean bottom near the shore
2. Issued when the conditions are favorable b. Saffir–Simpson scale ranks the relative intensities of
3. Covers 65,000 square kilometers (25,000 square miles) hurricanes
c. Tornado warning is issued when a tornado is sighted or is c. Categories of hurricane damage
indicated by weather radar 1. Storm surge —large dome of water 65 to 80
d. Use of Doppler radar helps increase the accuracy by kilometers (40 to 50 miles) wide sweeps across the
detecting the air motion coast where eye makes landfall
2. Wind damage
C. Hurricanes 3. Inland flooding from torrential rains
1. Most violent storms on Earth
2. Necessary conditions
a. Wind speed in excess of 119 kilometers (74 miles) per hour
b. Rotary cyclonic circulation
3. Profile
a. Form between 5° and 20° latitude
b. Nomenclature
1. Typhoons in the western Pacific
2. Cyclones in the Indian Ocean
c. North Pacific has the greatest number per year
d. Parts of a hurricane
1. Eyewall
a. Near the center
b. Rising air
c. Intense convective activity
d. Wall of cumulonimbus clouds
e. Greatest wind speeds
f. Heaviest rainfall
2. Eye
a. At the very center
b. About 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) in diameter
c. Precipitation ceases
d. Winds subside
e. Air gradually descends and heats by compression
f. Warmest part of the storm
e. Wind speeds reach 300 kilometers per hour
f. Generate 50-foot waves at sea

4. Hurricane formation and decay

a. Form in all tropical waters except the
1. South Atlantic and
2. Eastern South Pacific
b. Energy comes from condensing water vapor
c. Develop most often in late summer when warm water
temperatures provide energy and moisture
d. Initial stage is not well understood
1. Tropical depression—winds do not exceed 61
kilometers (38 miles) per hour
2. Tropical storm—winds between 61 and 119 kilometers
(38 and 74 miles) per hour
e. Diminish in intensity whenever
1. They move over cooler ocean water
2. They move onto land
3. The large-scale flow aloft is unfavorable

5. Destruction from a hurricane

a. Factors that affect amount of hurricane damage
1. Strength of storm (the most important factor)