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| A large body of air that is characterized by a sameness of temperature and humidity. |
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| The conditions experienced in an area as an air mass passes over it. Because air masses are large and fairly homogenous, air-mass weather will be fairly constant and may last for several days. |
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| A bitterly cold air mass that forms over the frozen Arctic Ocean. |
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| A front along which a cold air mass thrusts beneath a warmer air mass. |
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| An air mass that forms over land; it is normally relatively dry. |
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| In addition to the tasks performed by conventional radar, this new generation of weather radar can detect motion directly and hence greatly improve tornado and severe storm warnings. |
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| A zone of scattered clouds and calm averaging about 20 kilometers in diameter at the center of a hurricane. |
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| The doughnut-shaped area of intense cumulonimbus development and very strong winds that surrounds the eye of a hurricane. |
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| The boundary between two adjoining air masses having contrasting characteristics. |
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| A tropical cyclonic storm having winds in excess of 119 kilometers (74 miles) per hour. |
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| Snow showers associated with a cP air mass to which moisture and heat are added from below as the air mass traverses a large and relatively warm lake (such as one of the great lakes), rendering the air mass humid & unstable. |
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| An air mass that originates over the ocean. These air masses are relatively humid. |
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| Large center of low pressure with an associated cold front and often a warm front. Frequently accompained by abundant precipitation. |
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| A front formed when a cold front over takes a warm front. It marks the beginning of the end of a middle-latitude cyclone. |
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| The over taking of one front by another. |
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| Warm air gliding up a retreating cold air mass. |
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| A cold air mass that forms in a high-latitude source region. |
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| The area where an air mass acquires its characteristic properties of temperature & moisture. |
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| A situation in which the surface position of a front does not move; the flow on either side of such a boundary is nearly parallel to the position of the front. |
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| The abnormal rise of the sea along a shore as a result of strong winds. |
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| A storm produced by a cumulonimbus cloud and always accompained by lightening & thunder. It is of relatively short duration and usually accompained by strong wind gusts, heavy rain, and sometimes hail. |
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| A small, very intense cyclonic storm with exceedingly high winds, most often produced along cold fronts in conjunction with severe thunderstorms. |
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| A warning issued when a tornado has actually been sighted in an area or is indicated by radar. |
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| A warning issued for areas of about 65,000 square kilometers (25,000 square miles) indicating that conditions are such that tornadoes may develope; it is intended to alert people to the possibility of tornadoes. |
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| Air masses that form in low latitudes. |
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| By international agreement, a tropical cyclone with maximum winds that do not exceed 61 kilometers (38 miles) per hour. |
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| By international agreement, a tropical cyclone with maximum winds between 61 and 119 kilometers (38 and 74 miles) per hour. |
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| A front along which a warm air mass overrides a retreating mass of cooler air. |
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| Arid Climate (Dry Climate) |
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Definition
| A climate in which yearly precipitation is not as great as the potential loss of water by evaporation. |
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| Climate-Feedback Machanism |
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Definition
| Because the atmosphere is a complex interactive phyiscal system, several different possible outcomes may result when one of the system's elements is altered. These various possibilities are called climate-feedback mechanism. |
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| The exchanges of energy & moisture that occur among the atmosphere, hydrosphere, solid earth, biosphere, and cryosphere. |
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| One of the two types of dry climate; the driest of the dry climates. |
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| Dry-Summer Subtropical Climate |
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| A climate located on the west sides of continents between latitudes 30* and 45*. It is the only humid climate with a strong winter precipitation maximum. |
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| Complex pattern of climate conditions associated with mountains. highland climates are characterized by large differences that occur over short distances. |
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| Humid Continental Climate |
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| A relativelt severe climate characteristic of broad continents in the middle latitudes between approximently 40 and 50 degrees north latitude. This climate is not found in the Southern Hemisphere, where the middle latitudes are dominated by the oceans. |
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| Humid Subtropical Climate |
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| A climate generally located on the eastern side of a continent & characterized by hot, sultry summers and cool winters. |
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| A climate that has no monthly means above freezing and supports no vegetative cover except in a few scattered high mountain areas. This climate, with its perpetual ice and snow, is confined largely to the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. |
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| A system for classifying climates devised by Wladimir Koppen that is based on mean monthly and annual values of temperature & precipitation. |
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| A climate found on windward coasts from latitudes 40-65 degrees and dominated by maritime air masses. Winters are mild & summers are cool. |
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| The mean temperature of the warmest month is below 10*C (50*F), known for enduring cold. Classified as humid, precipitation is generally meager. |
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| A dry area of the lee side of a mountain range. Many middle-latitude deserts are of this type. |
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| Semiarid Climate (Steppe) |
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| One of the two types of dry climate. A marginal & more humid variant fo the desert that seperates it from bordering humid climates. |
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| One of the two types of dry climate. A marginal & more humid variant fo the desert that seperates it from bordering humid climates. |
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| A climate found north of the humid continental climate and south of the polar climate & characterized by bitterly winters and short, cool summers. places within this climate realm experience the highest annual temperature ranges on Earth. |
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| A luxuraint broadlesf evergreen forest; also, the name given the climate assocaited with this vegetation. |
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| Tropical Wet & Dry Climate |
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| A climate that is transitional between the wet topics and the subtropical steppes. |
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| Found almost exclusively in the Northern Hemisphere or at high altitudes on many mountanous regions. A treeless climatic realm of sedges, grasses, mosses, and lichens that is dominated by a long, bitterly cold winters. |
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