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23 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Thunderstorm
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A. form when warm, humid air rises in an unstable environment
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how hail is formed (air mass thunderstorms/updraft)
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as air condenses it goes down; crosses thermal boundary and melts. If it encounters updraft, it pushes it up again; goes back up and freezes again and collects other snow particles again. If it goes down, another updraft pushes it back up and it keeps going up and down. Doesn't stop until the updraft is gone or if it's too big to be pushed up anymore.
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what makes a thunderstorm severe?
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a) If the wind is more than 93 kms/hr, if hailstones are greater than 1.9 cm in diameter, or if a tornado is generated, considered a severe thunderstorm
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lightning
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A. a sudden flash of light generated by the flow of electrons between oppositely charged parts of a cumulonimbus cloud or between cloud and he ground
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tornado climatology
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a) tornado season happens in the spring. The cP comes down and mT moves up; at that front, tornadoes are produced. There are no mountains to stop the cyclone from forming.
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similarities and differences between dust devil and tornado
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A. Both dust devil and tornado are tilted and rolling, create cyclone. The difference is that the dust devil starts on the ground and the tornado starts in the cloud.
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how hurricanes develop in the tropics
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i. starts as a tropical depression; low pressure developing, speed becomes faster, upgrade to tropical storm.
ii. On the test, a typhoon is a hurricane. |
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hurricane formation
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i. sea is being heated as moving, air is rising and moving, if in Northern hemisphere deflected to the right and starts a storm. In the southern hemisphere it is deflected to the left. So on satellites you might see direction of hurricanes and know if it's in the south or north.
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two conditions needed to form a hurricane
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i. latent heat (ocean should be warm, at least 26 degrees celsius)
ii. coriolis effect a) without any coriolis effect there is no hurricane! |
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difference between mid-latitude cyclone and hurricane
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a) both severe weather
b) mid-latitude develops on land in mid-latitude c) hurricane produced on ocean in tropics d) hurricane starts at ocean and goes up; mid-latitude develops in upper atmosphere |
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radiosonde
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instrument attached to a balloon. As balloon goes up, records information
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why is weather forecasting in BC difficult?
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i. big gap in information from over the Pacific Ocean
a) not enough data points here b) more on slide ii. BC's complex geography a) province is full of mountains, inlets and valleys that produce dramatic differences in weather in the same region b) easy in Manitoba where it's flat |
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know which maps to use on environment canada...
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i. knowing if rain or snow will occur, use 850-700 mb maps; if ground is warm it will still rain. Also shows you thunderstorms
ii. storms at 500 mb iii. 300 and 200mb maps help identify jet stream and what air masses will come in. |
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IR images (colours)
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a) red: cumulonimbus clouds (thick, high, cold)
b) blues: nimbostratus clouds (thin, low, warm) |
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radar in weather forecasting
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i. remote sensing
ii. electromagnetic wave sent out; when raindrops fall, waves will bounce back. Instrument measures and plots on map. iii. If wave is shortened, moving away iv. wave is longer, moving towards |
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climatology
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i. analyzes long term weather patterns over time and space (climactic regions)
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climograph
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temperature and precipitation
A climograph is a graphical representation of basic climatic parameters, that is monthly average temperature and precipitation, at a certain location.[1] It is used for a quick-view of the climate of a location. |
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3 climatological settings that form deserts
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a) high pressure cells
b) rain shadow (on leeward side of mountain) c) if too far from moisture bearing air masses if asked about Atacama, name all three |
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ensemble forecasting
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Producing number of forecasts using the same computer model but altering (slightly) the initial conditions
Assigning a degree of confidence on the forecast |
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persistance forecasting
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assumes that the conditions at the time of the forecast will not change
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analog forecasting
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Weather repeats itself in a general way
Find well-established weather patterns from the past that match (analogous) to the current one |
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pattern recognition
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Usually used currently by forecasters to overrule machine forecasts
Ancient weather forecasting methods usually relied on observed patterns of events |
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trend forecasting
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Determining the speed and direction of features such as fronts, cyclones, areas of clouds and precipitation
Forecasters extrapolate future positions of weather phenomena Effective for nowcasting (just a few hours) Dependent on radar and sattellite data |
