3rd, Julia & Cheryl, What is Weather?

What is Weather?

By: Julia Holloway, and Cheryl Thomas

Atmosphere Earth's Atmosphere is made up of Nitrogen, Oxygen, and other gases. Earth is made up of 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, and 1% Other gases like Carbon Dioxide. Carbon Dioxide is something that is needed by animals, plants, and other! Without oxygen, we would not be able to breathe.

Nitrogen also keeps living things alive.

Convection The movement of fluids and rheids is called convection. In convection, the heat energy stays associated with a molecule. The molecule moves, carrying the heat energy with it. Has your parent ever asked you to close your room door? This is because the heat is one and they don't want the heat to escape.

Wind Currents Wind means that the air is moving. When the sun warms the surface of Earth, the Atmosphere also warms! When warm air rises, because it weighs less, corm air comes in and replaces it. This causes wind.

Ocean Currents Ocean currents are similar to winds in the atmosphere in that they transfer significant amounts of heat from Earth’s equatorial areas to the poles and thus play important roles in determining the climates of coastal regions. In addition, ocean currents and atmospheric circulation influence one another.

High Pressure High Pressure is a spinning mass of dry and cold air. It usually brings nice, clear skies with light wind. A big, blue H represents High Pressure. Winds from High-Pressure areas spin clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere.

Low Pressure When there is a lot of hot air gathered together, it will create an area of low pressure. Its basically a whirling mass of warm, moist air that generally brings scary stormy weather with strong winds. It will bring precipitation.

Precipitation can come in forms of rain, snow, sleet, or hail. The Low Pressure sign is usually a big L.

Weather Fronts Cold Front- A cold front is when cold air comes in and replaces warm air. The symbol looks like shark teeth pointing in the direction in which the air is moving.

It's also blue!

Warm Front- A warm front is just like a cold front, but the warm air replaces the cold air instead. The symbol looks like a line of tomatoes cut in half.

Stationary Front- A stationary front is when there is an area with both a cold and warm front but they may or may not move. This line looks like both cut tomatoes and shark teeth.

Occluded Front- An Occluded Front is when a cold front catches up to a warm front and they meet!The line has both teeth and cut tomatoes but purple!

Hurricanes Hurricanes are formed when large areas of the ocean become heated and the air pressure over that area drops.

Hurricanes are moved by prevailing wind currents that surround the hurricane from the surface to 50,000 feet or more. Category 1 hurricanes can cause death, property damage and flooding and should be taken very seriously.

Coastal areas are often evacuated by the police when a hurricane is approaching. A Category 2 hurricane is 10 times worse, Category 3 is 50 times, Category 4 is 100 times, and Category 5 is 250 times.

Tornadoes A lot of tornadoes form from storms. For a tornado, you need to have cold, dry air from Canada and warm, moist air from the gulf of Mexico. Whenever they meet, the atmosphere becomes unstable. The wind speeds up and the wind currents change. Tornadoes can be very scary especially when the wind speeds reach over 250 miles per hour!

Sun The Sun, is a star, made out of 92.1% hydrogen, and 7.8% helium. The Sun gives life to the Earth, and Earth would have no life at all without the energy from the Sun. The Sun looks like a giant red ball to us. It is more than 1,000,000 times bigger than the Earth. Solar energy is energy that comes from the Sun. Without the Sun, the Earth would be freezing cold and we wouldn't be able to survive on planet Earth.

Isotherm and Isobar An isotherm is a line that joins points with similar temperature. An Isotherm map shows where temperatures are relatively high and low.

It also shows the places where the temperature changes are big. An Isobar is a line that connects points of areas with areas of similar pressure.

Isobar Isotherm

Types of Precipitation The main types of precipitation is rain, snow, sleet, and hail. Whenever water evaporates, it eventually condenses into things like water droplets. When it falls to earth, it could be rain, snow, sleet, or hail.

Types of Clouds The main types of clouds are Cirrus, Stratus, Cumulus, and Cumulonimbus. Cirrus clouds are composed of ice and are thin, wispy clouds blown in high winds into long streamers, that indicate that a change of temperature will occur in 24 hours. Cirrostratus clouds are thin, sheet like high clouds that often cover the whole sky, and come 12-24 hours before a rain or snow storm. Cirrocumulus clouds appear as small, rounded white puffs that appear in long rows. In the winter they mean fair, but cold weather. In tropical regions they indicate an approaching hurricane. Altostratus clouds are gray or blue-gray mid level clouds composed of ice crystals and water droplets, and usually form ahead of storms with continuous rain or snow.

Types of Clouds Altocumulous clouds are made out of water droplets and appear as gray puffy cotton balls. If you see one on a warm, sticky morning, it means that there will be a thunderstorm late in the afternoon. A Stratus cloud form form gray clouds that light mist or drizzle come out of.

Stratocumulus clouds are low, puffy and gray and usually turn into nimbostratus clouds. Nimbostratus clouds form a dark gray, wet looking cloudy layer associated with continuously falling rain or snow, and often produce precipitation that is light to moderate. A Cumulus cloud is white, puffy cloud that looks like a cotton ball, and is often called the "fair-weather cloud". It can turn into a giant cumulonubus cloud. Cumulonimbus clouds are thunderstorm clouds that are associated with heavy rain, snow, hail, lightning, and even tornadoes.

Types of Clouds A Mammatus cloud are associated with severe weather and are low hanging bulges that droop from cumulonimbus clouds. Lenticular clouds are caused by a wave wind pattern created by mountains, and look like flying saucers.

Green clouds are often associated with severe weather. In the Great Plains they are most likely to produce hail and tornadoes.

Dew Point The dew point is the temperature where water condenses out of things like cold or warm fronts. The atmosphere can only hold so much water.

How scientists get images Scientists use satellites to take images of the Earth, Moon, Sun, and everything else in our galaxy. Satellites are used to get more information about the planets surrounding us.

Satellites are made by scientists at NASA and are sent into space.

Meteorological instruments used by scientists ● Scientists use thermometers to measure temperature

● A barometer measures air pressure ● A sling psychrometer measures humidity

● A wind vane measures wind direction ● A anemometer measures wind speed ● A rain gauge measures water levels from rain.

Roles: Slide 1: Title Slide 2: Atmosphere Info- Julia Pic-Cheryl Slide 3: Convection Info-Cheryl Pic-Cheryl Slide 4: Wind Currents Info-Julia Pic-Cheryl Slide 5: Ocean Currents Info-Cheryl Pic-Cheryl Slide 6: High Pressure Info-Julia Pic-Cheryl Slide 7: Low Pressure Info-Cheryl Pic-Cheryl Slide 8: Weather Fronts Info-Julia Pic-Cheryl Slide 9: Hurricanes Info-Cheryl Pic-Cheryl Slide 10: Tornadoes Info-Julia Pic-Cheryl Slide 11: Sun Info-Cheryl Pic-Cheryl Slide 12: Isotherm and Isobar Info-Cheryl Pic-Cheryl Slide 13: Types of Precipitation Info-Julia Pic-Cheryl Slide 14: Types of Clouds Info-Cheryl Slide 15: Types of Clouds Info-Cheryl Slide 16: Types of Clouds Info-Cheryl Pic- Cheryl Slide 17: Dew Point Info-Julia Pic-Cheryl Slide 18: How Scientists get images Info-Cheryl Pic-Cheryl Slide 19: Meteorological instruments used by scientists Info-Julia Pic-Julia