Exam 9: Air Masses and Fronts

During the spring,a mP air mass would most likely bring record-breaking high temperatures to the eastern half of the United States.

Explain how,using no meteorological instruments other than your eyes,you could identify the passage of an occluded front.

Explain why the observation of a halo around the moon or sun could forewarn of the arrival of a warm front.

Compared to an mP air mass,mT air is colder and drier.

Is it possible for a stationary front to produce precipitation? If so,would you expect to find the precipitation on the warm or the cold air side of the front?

Describe some of the changes in weather conditions (winds,temperature,clouds,precipitation,pressure changes)that you would expect to observe as a cold front approaches and passes through your location.

A stationary front does not move because the winds blow parallel to the front.

An upper-air front involves downward motion of the:

What type of clouds,if any,would you expect to see form when a cP air mass moves across warm water? Would conditions be any different when mT air moves across a cold land surface? What types of clouds would form in this latter case?

On a weather map,the transition zone between two air masses with sharply contrasting properties is marked by:

The air mass with the highest actual water vapor content is:

When cP air moves into western Washington,western Oregon,and California fro the east,the air mass is warmer at the surface than it was originally because the air sinks,is compressed,and warms.

At a warm front,the warm air:

Draw side views of a typical warm and cold front.Indicate the temperatures of the separate air masses and show their directions of motion.What types of clouds would you expect to find and where? Where would you expect precipitation to occur?

Without considering changes in temperature,how are the weather conditions accompanying a cold frontal passage different from those associated with the passage of a warm front?

When a warm and cold air mass collide,why is the warm air is forced upward?

List the four basic types of air masses.Give an example of where each type could originate and describe how each air mass could affect local weather conditions if it moved into your region.

What type of air mass would be responsible for daily afternoon thunderstorms along the Gulf Coast?

What type of air mass would be responsible for hot,muggy summer weather in the eastern half of the United States?

What type of weather front would be responsible for the following weather forecast: "Increasing high cloudiness and cold this morning.Clouds increasing and lowering this afternoon with a chance of snow or rain tonight.Precipitation ending tomorrow morning.Turning much warmer.Winds light easterly today becoming southeasterly tonight and southwesterly tomorrow."