Influences on Weather and Climate

influences on weather and climate.

By felix. ​

Multiple Choice

Earth does not have a perfect circle it has an?

• Weather orbit

• elliptical orbit

• Front orbit

• bad circle

The angle of the solar radiation to Earth's surface affects the amount of radiation absorbed.

​Earth's weather maker

​The latitudes closer to the equator have the Sun overhead during the day.

​Receiving less direct solar radiation per square meter causes the Poles to be colder than the tropics, which receive more direct solar radiation. The effect of the sunlight's angle is called the angle of insolation.

​Earth does not orbit in a perfect circle, it has an elliptical orbit. The orbit's closest point to the Sun is called perihelion and occurs on january 3rd.

​We experience seasons because of the angle incidence of the suns light energy hitting Earth.

​Rising warm air creates a wind called an updraft. Sinking cool air creates a wind called a downdraft.

​As air warms and cools, water in the air changes between gas, liquid, water droplets, and solid.

​when the droplets or pellets become heavy enough, the water falls back to Earth as precipitation.

Multiple Select

list the 3 major fronts

• warm front

• cold front

• weather front

• stationary front

​Air moves across Earth's surface in huge volumes called air masses. Each air mass possesses a characteristic temperature-cold (arctic or polar) or warm (tropical).

​Air Masses and Fronts

​The leading edge of an air mass is called a front. A front is also the boundary between two air masses, where weather often changes.

​ A cold front is the leading edge of a cold air mass that pushes against a mass of warm air. Because cool air is denser, it pushes the warm air up.

​ Sometimes a front may stall over an area. Such a front is called a stationary front. On a weather map, a stationary front is represented by alternating red semicircles and blue triangles that point in opposite directions.

​ Air pressure refers to the weight of a column of air over a particular location on Earth. Denser air masses exert greater pressure because they contain more particles of air per unit of volume.

Air Pressure and Weather​

Multiple Choice

Low-pressure air masses usually produce?

• warm weather

• cool weather

• stormy and bad weather

• perfect weather

​ Low-pressure air masses usually produce stormy weather. Low-pressure air masses contain winds that flow counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and upward toward the center of the air mass.

Multiple Choice

High-pressure air masses usually produce?

• Really Cold Weather

• Clear skies, perfect weather

• stormy weather

• windy weather

​ High-pressure air masses usually produce calm, clear weather. High-pressure air masses contain winds that flow clockwise in the northern hemisphere and outward from the center of the air mass.

​The mercury barometer once used by scientists to measure air pressure was invented in 1643 by an Italian physicist named Evangelista Torricelli. It had a graduated glass tube with a millimeter scale.

​Getting Technical: Mercury Barometer

​The weight of air pressing down on the mercury in the open container forces the mercury up to a certain height in the tube.

​Landforms can also impact weather. For example, mountains tend to have more rain on the front side than the back side, because most rain will fall before reaching the top of the mountain, leaving the air mass dry as it moves down the back.

​Land forms and Weather

​A weather map provides data about current weather conditions at a particular location. It also shows the movements and characteristics of air masses in that location.

​Weather Maps

​A weather map contains symbols, numbers, and words or letters that describe factors such as temperature, air pressure, wind speed and direction, cloud cover, fronts, and types of weather such as rain, snow, fog, thunderstorms, and hurricanes.

​Areas marked with high pressure symbol will have good weather and clear skies. A low-pressure symbol, however, marks areas that can have bad or stormy weather.