2. When heat isn’t added or subtracted, they
result in being compressed or expanding
Air expands as you elevate your position in the
atmosphere
Air expands as it cools and air compresses as it
warms
3. Elevated terrains act as barriers to air flow
Once air has moved to the leeward side of say a
mountain, most of it’s moisture has been lost.
This affect is why most areas may be cut off by
mountains yet be completely different on both
sides. Ex: wet and moist on the windward, and
then hot and dry on the leeward
4. It is When masses of warm air and cold air
collide
Cooler denser air acts as a barrier which the
warmer less dense air rises over.
5. When ever air in the lower atmosphere flows
together
Because the flowing air cannot go down, cloud
formations may occur
6. During summer days unequal heating of earths
surface may cause small areas of air to be
heated up more then the surface it surrounds
This air will move upward since it is heated,
helping animals like birds or humans during
activities like hang gliding
7. Stable air resists vertical movement
Unstable air rises freely
Clouds formed from the forced movement of
this stable air are typically widespread and
have little chance of precipitation. Clouds of
unstable air typically tower and can cause
thunderstorms
8. When water vapor in the air changes into a
liquid or a gas turning into a liquid state
Ex: rain, dew, fog, or clouds
Occurs when a vapor is cooled or compressed
to its’ saturation limit
9. Cirrus – Clouds in the atmosphere that are
shown and are explained as thin wispy strands
Cumulus – More vertical in their development,
they have edges that are easily visible
Stratus - Flat and hazy feature less clouds that
may produce a drizzle of rain
10. Ex: Cirrus, Cirrostratus, and cirrocumulus –
6000 meters
Not considered precipitation making clouds
11. Altocumulus – 4000 meters
A light snow or drizzle may happen with these
clouds
13. Bases in low height range, but they often reach
upwards to the middle or high ranges
Can produce very strong rain showers or
thunderstorms
14. No physical difference between fog and a
cloud, just height
Can form on cool nights where earths surface is
cooled very fast by radiation . Later in the night
a thin layer of air is cooled before dew point
and becomes denser, thus fog
Cool air over warm water may evaporate and
help create saturation , when this meets cold
air, it condenses with warm air below
15. The creation of precipitation in the cold mid to
upper layer clouds.
Creates cold rain or ice crystals
Super cooled water droplets or ice crystals
must be in the cloud together for the BP to
occur
16. Water absorbing particles like salt can remove
the water vapor from the air and help create
large raindrops
When these droplets move through a cloud,
they form together with smaller droplets.
17. Rain – Requires a think layer of the atmosphere
that is above freezing and is caused by
condensation of water vapors turned into
droplets
Snow – Forms in a motion of upward air near a
low pressure system where the temperature
must be below freezing
18. Sleet – clear ice formed by a layer of air above
freezing temperatures that lays over a
subfreezing layer near the ground
Glaze – occurs when freezing rain hits a surface
and creates a formation or sheet of ice around
or on an object
Hail – A solid precipitation, which forms in
strong thunderstorms, mainly ones with very
strong updrafts