Wind, Water In The Atmosphere, And Drought And Flood Test

Front 1

Alto

Back 1

Prefix meaning mid altitude; between 2 and 6 kilometers above Earth’s surface; higher than regular cumulus and stratus clouds, but lower than cirrus

Front 2

Cirro

Back 2

prefix meaning high altitude

Front 3

Cirrus

Back 3

The type of cloud formed from ice crystals at high altitudes; Wispy, feathery clouds; Cirrocumulus clouds indicates a storm is coming, but normally do not produce precipitation

Front 4

Cumulo

Back 4

Prefix meaning “heaped”

Front 5

Cumulus

Back 5

A type of cloud that is puffy or heaped in appearance, has distinct edges; Fluffy rounded piles of cotton
Form less than 2 kilometers above ground
Cumulus clouds that aren’t very tall usually indicates fair weather
Towering clouds with flat tops often produce thunderstorms.

Front 6

Nimbo

Back 6

Prefix meaning rain

Front 7

Nimbus

Back 7

Suffix meaning rain

Front 8

Stratus

Back 8

The type of cloud forms in horizontal layers and blankets the sky; Usually cover all or most of the sky
Dull, gray color
May produce drizzle, rain, or snow – Nimbostratus clouds
Nimbo – “rain”

Front 9

Temperature

Back 9

Average kinetic energy or the molecules in a substance

Front 10

Fog

Back 10

Clouds that form at or near the ground
Often forms when the ground cools at night after a warm, humid day
More common in areas near bodies of water or low lying marshy areas

Front 11

Particles

Back 11

salt crystals, dust from soil, and smoke, Blades of grass or window panes; must be present so the water has a surface to condenses on

Front 12

Dew

Back 12

Liquid water that condenses from the air onto a cooler surface

Front 13

Frost

Back 13

Ice that has been deposited on a surface that is below freezing

Front 14

Dew point

Back 14

The temperature at which condensation begins

Front 15

water droplets

Back 15

If dew point above freezing – water vapor forms water droplets

Front 16

ice crystals

Back 16

If dew point is below freezing – water vapor may change into ice crystals.

Front 17

Condensation

Back 17

Water vapor becomes liquid water.
Cooling of the air
Presence of particles in the air.

Front 18

Psychrometer

Back 18

How to Measure Relative Humidity; If the humidity is high the wet bulb evaporates slowly. If it is low the wet bulb evaporates rapidly

Front 19

Relative Humidity

Back 19

The percentage of water vapor that is actually in the air compared to the maximum amount of water vapor that air can hold at a particular temperature

Front 20

Humidity

Back 20

Measure of the amount of water vapor in the air.
Warm air can hold more water vapor than cold air.

Front 21

What Causes Weather

Back 21

1. Occurs because of unequal heating of the atmosphere.
2. Source of heat is the sun.
3. The sun heats Earth’s surface more in some places than others. Why?
4. Warm – may cause water to evaporate or since warm air is less dense, it rises, causing wind.
5. Rising air cools as it goes higher in the atmosphere. If it is moist, the water vapor may condense – Clouds form, and precipitation may fall.

Front 22

Weather

Back 22

Refers to the conditions of the atmosphere at a given time and place;
Temperature, clouds, winds, and rain

Front 23

precipitaion

Back 23

Any form of water that falls from clouds and reaches Earth's surface.

Front 24

Precipitaion occurs when....

Back 24

1. Cloud droplets or ice crystals must grow heavy enough to fall through the air.
2. Droplets must collide and combine to get larger.

Front 25

Types of Precipitaion (5)

Back 25

Rain, sleet, freezing rain, snow, and hail

Front 26

Rain

Back 26

most common type of precipitaion

drops of water

Front 27

Drizzle

Back 27

type of rain; smaller drops of water; usually fall from stratus clouds

Front 28

Mist

Back 28

smaller drops than a drizzle; usually fall from stratus clouds

Front 29

Sleet

Back 29

rain drops as solid particles of ice-freezes in the air

Front 30

Freezing Rain

Back 30

rain drops that freezes on a cold surface

Front 31

Snow

Back 31

water vapor in a cloud is converted directly into ice crystals

Front 32

Hail

Back 32

round pellets of ice larger than 5 milimeters in diameter

forms ony inside cumulonimbus clouds durning thunderstorms

Front 33

droughts

Back 33

long periods of unusually low precipitaion

Front 34

cloud seeding

Back 34

the technique or process of scattering substances such as silver iodide into clouds from an aircraft in order to precipitate rain

Front 35

rain gauge

Back 35

used to measure amount of rain fall

Front 36

snowfall measurement

Back 36

measuring stick, by melting collected snow, measuring the depth of water it produces

Front 37

global wind

Back 37

winds that occur in belts that go all around the planet; caused by unequal heating of the atmosphere

Front 38

land breeze

Back 38

type of local wind; blows from land to sea during the night or in winter; That’s when air over the water is warmer
than air over the land. The warm air rises. Cool air from the land flows out to take its place.

Front 39

local wind

Back 39

winds that blow over a limited area; influenced by local geogrpahy; nearness to an ocean, lake or mountain rage can affect local winds.

Front 40

monsoon

Back 40

like land and sea breezes, but on a larger scale; occur because of seasonal changes in the temperature of land and water

winter, they blow from land to water
summer, they blow from water to land

Front 41

sea breeze

Back 41

type of local wind; blows from sea to land during the day or in summer; That’s when air over the land is warmer
than air over the water. The warm air rises. Cool air from over the water flows in to take its place.

Front 42

wind

Back 42

air movement in the troposphere

Front 43

Why air moves

Back 43

differences in heating create convection currents and wind

Front 44

troposphere

Back 44

lowest layer of the atmosphere; where air movement takes place

Front 45

Process of air movement (3 parts)

Back 45

• Air in the troposphere is warmer near the ground. The warm air rises because it is light. The light, rising air
creates an area of low air pressure at the surface.
• The rising air cools as it reaches the top of the troposphere. The air gets denser, so it sinks to the surface. The
sinking, heavy air creates an area of high air pressure near the ground.
• Air always flows from an area of higher pressure to an area of lower pressure. Air flowing over Earth’s surface
is called wind. The greater the difference in pressure, the stronger the wind blows.

Front 46

Coriolis Effect

Back 46

Earth is spinning as air moves over its surface. This causes the Coriolis effect. Winds blow on a diagonal over the
surface, instead of due north or south. From which direction do the northern trade winds blow?
Without Coriolis Effect the global winds would blow north to south or south to north. But Coriolis makes them
blow northeast to southwest or the reverse in the northern hemisphere. The winds blow northwest to southeast or the
reverse in the southern hemisphere.

Front 47

Trade winds

Back 47

wind belt nearest the equator

Front 48

westerlies

Back 48

same in both hemispheres;

Front 49

polar easterlies

Back 49

same in both hemispheres;

Front 50

jet stream

Back 50

fast-moving air currents high in the troposphere; the result of unequal heating of the atmosphere; circle the planet mainly from west to east

Front 51

polar jets

Back 51

strongest jet streams

Front 52

northern polar jet stream

Back 52

help planes fly quickly from west to east over North America

Front 53

flash flood

Back 53

short-term events, occurring
within 6 hours of the causative event

Front 54

Causes of flood

Back 54

heavy rain, dam break, levee failure, rapid, snowmelt and ice jams

Front 55

Effects of floods

Back 55

Flash flood damage and
most fatalities tend to occur in areas immediately
adjacent to a stream or arroyo. Additionally, heavy
rain falling on steep terrain can weaken soil and cause
mud slides, damaging homes, roads and property

Front 56

Causes of droughts

Back 56

lack of precipitation of a period of time

Front 57

Effects of droughts on the environment

Back 57

wildfires, migration or relocation, vegetation dies, erosion, dust storms

Front 58

3 causes of flash floods

Back 58

Flash floods can be produced when slow moving or
multiple thunderstorms occur over the same area.
When storms move faster, flash flooding is less likely
since the rain is distributed over a broader area