Chapter 20 Quiz

An air mass is a large body of air with uniform temperature

and

a. uniform thickness.

b. uniform moisture.

c. abundant condensation nuclei.

d. low pressure throughout.

Which air masses influence much of the weather in North

America, especially east of the Rocky Mountains?

a. maritime tropical and continental polar

b. maritime polar and continental polar

c. continental polar and continental tropical

d. maritime polar and maritime tropical

What causes most of the precipitation in the eastern

two thirds of the United States?

a. maritime polar air masses

b. continental polar air masses

c. continental tropical air masses

d. maritime tropical air masses

An air mass changes

a. the weather of the area over which it moves.

b. the elevation of underlying areas.

c. the rotation direction of cyclones.

d. weather that is hundreds of kilometers away from it.

What forms at the boundary between two different air

masses of different properties?

a. a temperature inversion

b. a front

c. a hurricane eyewall

d. a storm surge

A warm front forms when

a. cold air moves up over warmer air.

b. a warm air mass meets another air mass of the same

temperature.

c. warm air glides up over colder air.

d. the temperature in a warm air mass increases.

Air masses are classified according to the

a. direction in which they move.

b. speed of their movement.

c. surface over which they form.

d. temperature of their air at a certain time.

Which of the following characteristics is NOT true of cold

fronts?

a. Violent weather such as thunderstorms occur along them.

b. The temperature drops as they pass.

c. Clear weather usually follows them.

d. They move more slowly than warm fronts.

What happens along a stationary front?

a. Cold air rises over warm air.

b. The flow of air is neither toward the warm air mass nor toward the cold air mass.

c. Air moves so rapidly upward that hurricanes form.

d. Wind stops completely.

What forms when a cold front overtakes a warm front?

a. a warm front

b. an occluded front

c. a cold front

d. a stationary front