| Term | Definition |
|---|
| capacity | (g H2O/kg air) maximum amount of water vapor that can be held in the air at a given temp - ^T-> ^capacity |
| specific humidity | (g H2O/kg air) actual amount of water present in atmosphere |
| relative humidity | % how close air is to reaching its capacity = SpH/capac |
| wet bulb depression | difference between wet bulb & dry bulb -- If depression is high, the air is dry. (if air=saturated, wet bulb=dry bulb) |
| Five Truths | air is saturated ; specific humidity=capacity ; temp=dew point ; condensation occurs ; rel hum=100% |
| adiabatic lapse rates | temp changes that occur without the addition of heat, just with changes in pressure - (6.5C/km, .5F/100m) |
| air pressure | weight of air above an object - ^altitude --> pressure decreases |
| 3 conditions necessary for cloud formation | moisture in air, condensation nuclei, cooling (T at dew point) |
| orographic lifting | rainshadow diagram, wind blows toward mountains, air forced up over mountains, will condense on the way, drier air comes up over mountains into a rain shadow desert |
| frontal wedging | warm air rises over colder air when they collide b/c warm air is less dense |
| convergence | air meets from both sides, collides and is forced up |
| localized convective lifting/radiational heating | ex. mountaintop heated by sun, air above it is heated more than air not above mountain, and rises |
| cirrus | ice crystal clouds, thin & wispy, leading edge of a warm front, rain usually 8 hours away |
| mare's tails | wispy swipey cirrus clouds that tell you how fast the storm is approaching (long=sooner) -- ice crystals act like prisms |
| sun dog | little rainbows among cirrus clouds on either side of the sun |
| halo | rainbow formed around the sun or moon -- A ring around the sun or moon means rain or snow is coming soon. |
| stratus | layered (horizontal) clouds that take up entire sky - uniform color = uniform thickness |
| virga | stratus clouds that precipitate but the precipitation evaporates before reaching the surface |
| cumulus | big & puffy, flat bottoms, indicate fair weather but can turn into thunderstorms b/c so much heat is in atmosphere, air rises so high |
| cauliflower tops | strong upward motion -- unstable |
| crepuscular rays | sun rays coming through the clouds like ANGELS |
| alto prefix | clouds are higher than normal |
| strato prefix | clouds completely cover the sky |
| nimbus suffix | clouds that precipitate |
| scud | low-level clouds that form right before/after rain b/c rel hum is so high |
| contrails | cloud lines left behind by planes |
| lenticular clouds | form above tops of mountains, look like UFOs |
| cap cloud | big flat cloud that sits right on the top of a mountain like a hat |
| billow cloud | billowy motion-looking, look like little waves http://z.about.com/d/weather/1/0/a/6/-/-/khwavephoto-opt2.jpg |
| hole cloud | something has happened to turn water droplets in middle of cloud to vapor |
| noctilucent cloud | nighttime illuminant - form at high elevations |
| the glory | circular rainbow on opposite side of sky as the sun - your image is reflected in the clouds with a small circular rainbow around it. |
| sun pillar | narrow vertical beam of light at sunrise & sunset |
Combine with other sets
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