Weather

Adapted from Corbisiero 2012

 Big Question

What factors affect

weather patterns?
 Key Concepts to Know
•Structure of the Atmosphere
•Variables that affect weather and their
relationships
•Dew point and relative humidity charts
•Surface and Planetary Winds
•Cloud Formation
•Air masses and Fronts
•Low and high pressure systems
•Station models and Synoptic weather maps
•Hurricanes & tornadoes
•Coriolis effect and global wind patterns and
ocean currents
What weather varIables are rep
orted on TV?
Listen to the weather report. What are the main weather variables
that are reported about? (hint: there are at least 4 of them & up to 9 of
them….see if you can guess them all!

Weather Report Weather Report

RECALL:

mesopause

stratopopause

OZONE OZONE
tropopause
RECALL:
 decreases
As altitude increases, pressure ____________.

As altitude increases, water vapor decreases

__________.

As altitude increases, temperature decreases

__________
increases
and _____________.

The layer we live in has an altitude of

12 or ______ miles.
______km, 7
THINK ABOUT IT ...

Why do mountain climbers have difficulty

breathing at high elevations?

Why do people say the air is thinner on top

of mountains?
The atmosphere ‘thins’ as you travel higher
and higher in elevation until there are too
few gas molecules to detect.
The percent by volume remains the same,
but there is more space for the molecules
to spread out.
This is why we refer to it as the ‘air thinning’.
This is also why it is difficult to breath at
higher altitudes, there is the same
percentage of oxygen, but you breathe in
LESS molecules with each breath!
 What is weather?
Weather:
Atmospheric conditions at
a specific location for a
short period of time
(days)
N O T E : This differs from climate because
climate is the conditions over a large area
over a long period of time (years)
What are the variables of weather and how
are they measured?

Temperature Pressure
How warm How much the
or cool the air is pushing
air is down
(also called barometric
pressure)

_______________
Thermometer _______________
Barometer
What are the variables of weather and how
are they measured?

Precipitation Humidity
Rain, hail, sleet, Amount of
or snow falling moisture in the
to the ground air
(water vapor)

____________
Rain
____________
____________
Sling
____________
Gauge Psychrometer
What are the variables of weather and how
are they measured?

Wind Speed Wind Direction

How fast the Where the
wind is moving wind is coming
(faster when isobars are
closest) FROM

___________
Wind
______________
Anemometer ___________
vane
 TEMPERATURE

Changes in temperature are ___________.

cyclic

We have two cycles that affect the

temperature:
day to night (_________
cooler mornings and
nights, warmest at __________),
mid-day
and
seasons (winters are ________
cooler and
summers are ___________)
warmer
 TEMPERATURE

Daily temperatures are affected by the

amount of _______________
clouds in the sky.

During the day the clouds block sunlight

from reaching Earth, and at night they act
as an insulator, holding the Earth’s heat in.
Temperature Conversions - Page 13 ESRT’s
Convert the following
temperatures:

60
140F = _____C

332
140F = _____K

NOTE:
F scale is by 2’s
C & K are by 1’s
Note that the melting/freezing point and
the evaporation/boiling point are noted
on the chart!
So is room temp and body temp!
 Conversions - Page 13 ESRT’s

Fahrenheit Celsius Kelvin

140F 60°C 333 K

-10°F -23°C 250 K

90 ºC 363 K
194°F
-4 ºF -20°C 253 K
134°F 57°C 330 K
 AIR PRESSURE

The force of the air pushing down

on the Earth.
 ACTIVITY:
•Does air pressure really exist?
Lets prove It...
•Using a cup, fill it with water to the top
•Place a piece of paper on top of the cup
•Holding the cup from the bottom, quickly flip
it over (make sure you are over a sink!)
 WHAT HAPPENED?
• There is air around us all the time.
• The air pushes with a force against
all objects in all directions at all
times
• This is called air pressure.
• The air takes up all the space
around the cup, the paper, and the Gravity
water at all times.
• When you flipped the cup over the
air pressure around the cup is
actually exerting more force on
the paper than the gravity pulling Air Pressure
on the water!
 AIR PRESSURE
Air Pressure Demonstration
(2 min):
•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0TQxYemrgg

Crush a 55 gallon drum (1:42 sec):

•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsoE4F2Pb20

What happened?
(write down your observations)
•Temperature affects air pressure.

•As the air temperature cools, the air mass

contracts becoming more _________.
___________ dense
increases
This _______________ the air pressure.

•As the air temperature becomes warmer,

expands and becomes
the air mass ___________,
less
__________ decreases
dense. This ____________
the air pressure.
INVERSE
This is an _______________ relationship.
Pressure Conversions - Page 13 ESRT’s

Convert the following pressures: High

Pressure
30.00
1016 mb = ______Hg
Hg is mercury

NOTE:
Mb scale is by 1’s
Hg scale is by .01 Low
Pressure
One atmosphere is normal air pressure at
sea level.

Anything above that is considered high

pressure, anything below that is considered
low pressure.
Pressure Conversions - Page 13 ESRT’s
millibars Inches of mercury
1016 mb 30.00 inches
980.0 mb 28.94 inches
1038.0 mb 30.65 inches
998.0 mb 29.47 inches
999.0 mb 29.50 inches

1033.0 mb 30.50 inches

1036.0 mb 30.60 inches

 PRECIPITATION

Measured in inches.

Water falling to the ground as

rain ___________,
____________, hail
sleet or __________.
___________, snow
Forms of Precipitation
 How does hail form?

How does
hail form?
Corbisiero 2012
Symbols – ESRT’s page 13

Drizzle Snow Rain

Snow Thunder-
Showers Sleet storms
Rain Freezing
Hail Showers Rain
 HUMIDITY
When the air is holding as much moisture as it
saturated
can, it is said to be _______________.
How much moisture the air can hold depends
temperature
upon its _______________________.
more
The warmer the temperature, the ___________
moisture the air can hold.
less
At colder temperatures the air holds _________
moisture and becomes
saturated
________________ faster.
THINK ABOUT IT ...
How come winters are always drier than summer?

We don’t get the static in the summer like in the

winter….

How about those really humid summer days when

even your sweat doesn’t evaporate?

Did you ever hang a damp towel in the summer only

to find out it is still damp later on? Why didn’t it
dry?
 psychrometer
The sling ___________________measures
humidity. It has a dry bulb and a wet bulb.
The wet bulb temperature is
usually cooler than the dry
bulb temperature.
(Think about when you get
out of the water and are all
wet – you feel cooler!)

The closer the wet and dry

bulb temps are, the more
moisture there is in the air
(the more humid it is).

When the wet and dry bulb

temps are the same, the air is
saturated (and it is probably
raining!).
 Try this!
Using the Sling Psychrometer
Dry Bulb Wet Bulb Difference
Temperature Temperature between wet &
in °C in °C dry bulb in °C

Then we use that information to determine the relative

humidity and the dewpoint!
 Dewpoint
The dewpoint is the temperature at which the
saturated
air will be ______________________.

If the temperature reaches the dewpoint,

condensation occurs.
__________________

Condensation is when water vapor

__________________
liquid
becomes _______________ water.

As the temperature of the air approaches the

dewpoint, the relative humidity approaches
100% %.
________
 Relative Humidity
Relative humidity expresses how “full” the air
is by comparing how much moisture it is
actually holding (absolute humidity) with
respect to how much moisture it could
potentially hold.
Example:
If the relative humidity is 20%, this means that
the air is 20% full and there is still 80% more
room for more moisture.
If the air were saturated the relative humidity
100%
would be _______________.
Relationship between temperature and
dewpoint and relative humidity:

Think about it:

How does the temperature change from
morning through night? Can you remember
ever going outside early in the morning and
seeing dew on the ground? Or frost?
Lets look at a normal spring day:

12 Noon 6:00 pm 12 Midnight 6:00 am

Temp = 20°C Temp = 18°C Temp = 10°C Temp = 14°C

Dewpoint = 14°C Dewpoint = 13°C Dewpoint = 10°C Dewpoint = 11°C

66 %
72 % 100 %
Relative
Humidity Relative
Relative
Humidity
79 %
Humidity Relative
Humidity

Write the following relationships based on the data above:

increases
As temperature increases, dewpoint _______________________

As temperature increases, relative humidity decreases

___________________________

WHY: Because if temperature increases then dewpoint has to increase also because it
rains when air temperature = dewpoint and its not always raining when its hot out.
Because you have more room to hold more water!
 In Summary…
Dew Point – the point at which condensation occurs. The air
is full, and when the temperature lowers to the dew point, the
moisture is forced to leave the air and condense into a liquid.

Humidity – how much moisture is in the air. 100% relative

humidity mean that the air is full, no more moisture can ‘fit’
in. 0% humidity means the air is very dry.
Using the charts: (ESRT’s page 12)
X axis = (dry bulb – the wet bulb) = the difference between them.
Y axis = the dry bulb (dry bulb is normal air temperature)

Determine the dewpoint and relative humidity for the readings on the sling
psychrometer to the left:

2°C
Dew Point = ___________ 33 %
Relative Humidity = ___________
#1 Mistake Students Make – They use the wrong chart!
Practice Determining Dewpoint & Relative
Humidity: Use your ESRT’s page 12:
Dry Bulb Wet Bulb Difference Dewpoint Relative
Temperature° Temperature° between wet & (Use ESRT’s) Humidity
(Use ESRT’s) %
C C dry bulb°C °C

17°C 13°C 4°C 10°C 63%

8°C 3°C 5°C -5°C 39%
26°C 16°C 10°C 9°C 34%
-14°C -14°C 0°C -14°C 100%
Most probably raining!
 THINGS TO KNOW:
When the dewpoint and air temperature (dry bulb) are close in
number, the probability of precipitation increases.

When air temperature increases, relative humidity decreases

because the volume of water in the air is now smaller compared
to how much the warm air can hold (warm air holds more water
than cool air).

When the difference between dry bulb and wet bulb is small,
relative humidity is high.

As warm air rises, the air cools in the upper troposphere and the
air temperature is closer to the dewpoint temperature. When air
temperature reaches dewpoint temperature, condensation
occurs because the air is saturated and cannot hold anymore
water.
What weighs more?
• Humidity affects air pressure. As the
amount of moisture in the air increases,
the air pressure decreases!

• This doesn’t seem right because the air

feels heavier when it is so humid out, but
the water molecules are actually lighter
than the air molecules they replace, so the
air actually weighs LESS when it is humid
out.
Dewpoint Lab
Cloud in a Bottle Lab
 How and why do clouds form?
Make a cloud activity!

•What ‘ingredients’ went into making the cloud?

What did the match put into the bottle?

What happened when the bottle was squeezed?

What happened when you stopped squeezing?

What does the squeezing represent?

Clouds are ice-crystals and or liquid water
droplets suspended in the air. The evaporation
oceans
of the __________________ is a major source
of the water vapor that condenses to form
clouds.

The air cools

until it reaches
the dewpoint
 There MUST also be particles in the atmosphere (condensation nuclei) for a cloud to form!

MOIST AIR WITH PARTICLES MOIST AIR WITHOUT PARTICLES

No PARTICLES,
NO
CONDENSATION,
NO CLOUDS!
NOTE:
• Warm, moist air rises because it is less
dense.
• As the air rises, it expands due to a
decrease in pressure. This causes the
temperature of the air to decrease. This
is called adiabatic cooling – there is a
temperature change with NO energy
change).
NOTE:
Precipitation occurs when
the cloud gets too heavy.
Did you know precipitation
cleans the air?
•Millions of water molecules combine to
form one raindrop.

*Note: Fog is when a cloud is on

or just above Earths surface!
Factors Affecting the Rate of Evaporation

Increase
Temperature Increase the
temperature,
Increase the rate of
evaporation

Increase
Surface Area Increase the surface
area,
Increase the rate of
evaporation
 Increase
Wind Speed Increase the
wind speed,
Increase the rate
of
evaporation

Increase Increase the

Saturation of
the Air
moisture in
(*more the air,
moisture in Decrease the rate
the air)
of
evaporation

* In other words, the more moisture there is in the air, the less evaporation that can
occur. If the air is completely saturated, then NO evaporation can occur. This is why
when it is really humid out you are always hot and clammy. The sweat on your body
DOES NOT evaporate!
 WIND
There are two kinds of winds:
Prevailing winds and Surface winds.
Surface winds are near the surface and are
generally caused by differences in air pressure.
Surface winds are named for the direction from
with they COME FROM
_______________.
North
A North wind comes from the _________
cooler weather.
and usually brings ___________

South
A South wind comes from the _________
warmer
and usually brings ___________ weather.
NOTE:
Warmer does NOT mean hot!
Cooler does NOT mean freezing!
When we say warmer or colder you have to put it in context:
We can have cooler or hotter summer days. However, even
the cooler summer days can be considered hot!
Example: an 85 degree summer day would be considered
cooler if all the days that preceded it were in the high 90’s!
We can have warmer winter days too. For example: we
might say it is a warm day in the winter if the temperature
reaches 40 degrees when all days preceding it were in the
low 20’s.
Do you see how warmer and cooler need to be used in
context?
 Wind Speed

Hardest/fastest when
Winds blow the _____________________
the difference in air pressure is greatest.

closer
This would be when the isobars are __________
together.

Steeper gradient.
This means there is a ____________
 Fastest wind
speed because
isobars are
closest together

Calculate the gradients:

From A to B From B to C
1008 – 992 mb 1020 – 1008 mb
40 miles 110 miles
= 0.43 mb/mi = 0.12 mb/mi
A B
The wind is strongest between point’s _____ and _____.
 Wind Direction
Winds at the surface always blow from
High to ____________
____________ Low pressure.
 Wind Direction
Prevailing Winds are NOT near the surface and
West to ________
blow from ________ East in the USA.

This
NEVER changes!
Memorize it!
• Compare this to air pressure (the push).
Which pressure, the 1000 mb or the 992
mb will push harder?
• So, which direction do you think the wind
will blow?

Corbisiero 2012
In what direction are the winds blowing
and what would you name them?
Corbisiero 2012
 Interactive Wind World Map – totally
awesome!
Look closely because it is moving…

http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/winkel3=0.00,0.00,256
 Land and Sea Breezes

Has to do with specific heat. Water

has highest specific heat so it takes
longer to heat up and longer to cool
down. Land heats up and cools down
quickly.
• Think about it…… why do so many people
go to the beach on really hot days?
• Because they want to feel the cool sea
breeze!!!
• It will be COOLER at the beach during the
daytime!
 Sea Breeze

Warm temperature and __________

___________ Low
Cool temperature
pressure over land, _________
High pressure over ocean.
and __________
WARM
L
Blows from COOL
sea to land
H
 Land Breeze

Cool temperature and __________

___________ High
Warm temperature and
pressure over land, _________
Low
__________ pressure over ocean. WARM
L
Blows from
COOL land to sea
H
 Hurricane An
drew 1992

Hurricane Andrew -
Aftermath
What is a weather system?

A weather system is when

different properties of the
atmosphere group together in
______________________
predictable
______________________.
patterns
 What are the two main systems?
HIGH Pressure System

Clear (no clouds)

Dry air
Cooler air
Righty Tighty CW
Wind blows OUT
Dense air
Sinking Air
Happy Highs
 HIGH Pressure System

Use arrows to draw the high pressure systems rotation.

WINDS ROTATION

H H

Righty Tighty CW
Wind blows OUT
 LOW Pressure System

Cloudy
Moist humid air
Warmer air
Lefty Loosey CCW
Wind blows IN
Low density air
Rising Air
Lousy Lows
 LOW Pressure System

Use arrows to draw the low pressure systems rotation.

WINDS ROTATION

L L

Lefty Loosey CCW

Wind blows IN
What do low and high pressure systems do at
the surface of Earth?
ESRT’s page 14
Highs are dry and sinking
Lows are wet and rising

L L

H H

L L

Write “H” for high and “L” for low in the correct locations on the
diagram in your ESRT’s pg. 14.
 H
L L

H H

L L

H H

L L
H
What does this mean for the United States?

L L

H H
What does this mean for the United States?

L L

H H
 HIGH
______ Pressure System

warmer cooler warmer

Sinks due to high density

Diverges at surface (blows out)
 LOW Pressure System
____________

cooler warmer cooler

Converges at surface (blows in)

Rises due to low density
Why do winds curve to the right in the Northern
Hemisphere?
THE CORIOLIS EFFECT

rotation
The Earth’s __________________ causes prevailing winds to
curve to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the
left
_________ in the southern hemisphere. The prevailing winds
then cause ocean currents to curve in the same way!
 What are air masses?

Air masses are part of high and low pressure systems.

•They are large bodies of air which have similar

temperature moisture
__________________ and _________________

characteristics.

air stays over a

•Air masses form when _________________________
region (called the source
____________________________________________.
region) for several days.
 What are air masses?

The air mass takes on the characteristics of the

area.
Air masses that form over water will be
moist
__________________.
Air masses that form over land will be
dry
___________________.
Air masses that form toward the Northern
cool
latitudes will be _______________.
Air masses that form toward the Southern
warm
latitudes will be _______________.
Meteorologists have developed two letter codes to identify
humidity
where an air mass originates based on ________________
temperature
and _____________________ (not pressure).

The codes are found on page 13 in your ESRT’s.

Note that the letters are either lower-case or upper-case for a
REASON!

Code letter Meaning Weather variable it contributes

c continental humidity
m maritime humidity
A arctic temperature
T tropical temperature
P polar temperature
Complete the following chart using your ESRT’s and knowledge of
pressure systems:

Code Air Mass Name Humidity Temperature Pressure

System

continental
cA Arctic low coldest High
continental
cP Polar low cooler High
continental
cT Tropical
low warmer
maritime
mT high warmer Low
Tropical
mP maritime
high cooler
Polar
Note that the first letter of every code is lowercase and represents moisture content!
Complete the diagram below by filling in the correct codes for the air masses shown. Note that cA will
NOT be used on this diagram. You will use codes more than once.

mP
mP cP

cT
mT
mT
 mP
mP cP

cT
mT mT

The diagram shows the air mass over the land area where it formed.
The arrows show the direction each air mass moves.
The general direction is West to East due to prevailing winds in the US (draw the
arrow).
This is one reason why weather is predictable!
Numbers 2 and 6 are circled in bold because they are the two air masses that
have the most effect on our weather in NYS!
 This is an example of
where the two masses
would move to. They
cP
would eventually ‘touch’
X Y
each other.
mT The diagram below is a
Prevailing Winds cross section along line x-y
showing how the air
masses ‘touch’.

X Y
NOTE: Continental Arctic is farther North than the
continental Polar!
 What are fronts?
boundary
The ____________________ where two air
masses meet is called a front.

Air Mass 2

Air Mass 1

FRONT

It is always raining at a front.

Low
This tells us that it must be a ______ pressure system.
 Naming Fronts
Fronts are named based on the air masses
touching and how they are moving.
For example:
•In the diagram, a cold air mass is pushing a
warm air mass.
cold front.
•This is called a ____________
cold
•A _____________ front always pushes a
warm air mass.
____________

Note: the opposite is

true for a warm front.
A warm front always
pushes a cold air mass
 Symbols for Fronts
The symbols used on maps to represent front also
tell us the type of air mass and how they are
moving.

For example:
cold front.
•The diagram above is a __________
•The symbol from your ESRT’s pg. 13 is
•The direction the symbols are pointing is the
direction of movment.
•On a map it would be positioned to show the
direction of movement.
Practice Identifying and Naming Fronts:
Use your ESRT’s page 13 and your knowledge of weather systems to complete the chart below.
The first one has been done as an example.
Front Symbol in What is Happening
Cross Section Correct Direction

Cold front
pushing
Warm air
mass

Warm front
pushing cold
air mass
 Front Symbol in What is Happening
Cross Section Correct Direction

Occluded
Cold air masses
pushed warm
air mass up

Stationary
Neither air
mass is
pushing
Cold pushing
warm
pushing cold
Using the diagram below, complete the following weather forecast:

B can expect rain and high

“City _____
humidity over the next few days while
A can look forward to low
City ______
humidity and clear skies.”
Another view of a front:
Station Model
POGIL LAB
 What are station models?
A station model is a simplified way for
meteorologists to include all the weather variables
reported by many weather stations onto ONE
map.
What are station models?
 What are station models?
Meteorologists can then use the barometric pressure data to add isobars.
 What are station models?
Using the pressure data, the temperatures, and humidity, they can then
determine where the low and high pressure systems are. Fronts then can be
added. Once fronts are added weather forecasts can be created!
Weather forecasts are useful to people in many
ways from planning trips to being prepared for
severe weather.
The station models are coded and can be read by
meteorologist worldwide.
ESRT’s page 13
Use the Station Model Explanation on page 13 and your knowledge of weather
variables to determine the properties for the station shown below.

Temperature 74°F (23°C)

Dewpoint 72°F (21°C)
Pressure 1000.2 mb
Wind Direction SE
Wind Speed
15 knots
Cloud Cover 100%
Relative Humidity
84 -92%
Based on the weather variables determined at the
station above, create a current weather forecast for
today and tomorrow:
The area can
expect a cloudy
day with
temperatures in
the mid 70’s and a
high chance of
rain.
 Barometric Pressure Encoding and
Decoding for Station Models

On station models, meteorologists do not

use the actual barometric pressure.
It would just be too many numbers.

They developed a code that uses only the

last three digits of the pressure.
This makes it because air pressures have a
relatively small range.
Think about it:

Use the diagram for Pressure in your

ESRT’s.

What is the highest pressure in mb?

1040.0 mb
_______________

What is the lowest pressure in mb?

_______________
968.0 mb
The two pressures above
are the approximate high
and low limits of
atmospheric pressure that
are observed at the Earth’s
surface.
Meteorologists take
advantage of this limited
range of observed pressures
and therefore encode them
on the station model.
 Encoding

1020.0 mb = 200
Drop the decimal and keep the last three digits.
Example 2: 1013.7 mb Example 3: 989.6 mb
a. Drop the decimal point: a. Drop the decimal point:
10137 9896
b. Report the last three b. Report the last three
digits: 137 digits: 896
Practice:
227
1. 1022.7 mb = ______________

980
2. 998.0 mb = ______________
 Decoding See that there is
no such pressure
088 = 1008.8 as 908.8? So you
Put the decimal in the tenths place. know you have to
use 10.
Add either a 10 or a 9 to the front.
Try the 9 first, and if it is not on the
chart on page 13, then try the 10.
It must be a valid pressure on the
conversion chart!
Example 2: 972
a. 97.2
b. 997.2 or 1097.2
c. Since 1097.2 is higher than
1041.0, the answer is
997.2!
 Decoding

Practice:

1012.7 mb
127 = _______________

986.5 mb
865 = _______________
 Station Model Activity
Pencils and ESRT’s out!
Station Model Activity:

1 2 3

4 5
6 7

78 680 92 390

74 89

Temperature = 25°C Temperature = 92°F

Dew Point = 23°C Dew Point = 89°F
Pressure = 968.0 mb Pressure = 1039.0 mb
Cloud Cover = 75% Cloud Cover = 25%
Wind = SW 20 knots Wind = S 5 knots
Weather Map POGIL Activity
 A

1024
992
B
Identify the High and Low pressure
systems by finding the center of the
highest pressure and the center of
the lowest pressure.
Place an “H” in the center of the
high and a “L” in the center of the
low.
1024
992
Place a cold front symbol at the front of
the moving cold air mass (cP)
extending out of the low pressure
center.

Place a warm front symbol at the front

of the moving warm air mass (mT) also
extending out of the low pressure
center.

Remember the symbols point in the

direction they are moving.
1024
992
1024
992
Shade the area around the fronts
where rain will occur.
1024
992
 Draw an arrow between Cheyenne,
Wyoming and Des Moines, Iowa to
show the direction the wind is blowing.
1024
992
 Which state, Kansas, Minnesota, or
Arizona, is currently experiencing the
highest wind speeds?
1024
992
Remember: Happy Highs and Lousy
Lows!
1024
992
 Put it all together!

cP
cP mT
Rain at
the fronts
Warm (mT)
Cold (cP) Cold (cP)
 cP
cP
mT

Remember,
rain always occurs along fronts!
Storms are more violent along cold fronts.
Systems in the US move West to East!
What about Thunder and Lightning? 2 minutes 38 seconds
Severe Weather Lab

The End
Music
Have You Ever Seen The Rain
by
Creedance Clearwater Revival