Record answers in med blue, bold font.

Air Masses and Life Cycles of Weather Systems

1. Distinguish between low pressure belts and high pressure belts.
Low pressure belts are created as air is heated and rises. High pressure belts are
created as air is cooled and falls
2. What causes air pressure differences which ultimately produce the wind patterns
around the Earth?
The unequal heating of the earth
3. List and describe the four regions that air masses form:
Continental- over land, Maritime- over oceans, Tropical- over warm areas, Polar- over
cold areas
4. Distinguish between continental polar and continental tropical air masses.
Continental polar air masses are cold and dry. Continental tropical air masses are
warm and dry
5. Distinguish between maritime polar and maritime tropical air masses.
Maritime polar air masses are cold and moist. Maritime tropical air masses are warm
and moist
6. Define a Front: a boundary between two air masses
7. List the four types of fronts: cold, warm, stationary, occluded
8. Describe a cold front: form when cold air overtakes warm air
9. What is a squall line? A long line of severe thunderstorms
10. Describe a warm front: form as a cold front leaves an area
11. Distinguish between a stationary and occluded front:
A stationary front forms when air masses meet and move either very slowly or not at
all. An occluded front is a fast moving cold front that overtakes a warm front.
12. Describe mid-latitude cyclones:
Areas of low pressure which have air moving toward the rising air of the low
pressure region.
13. Distinguish between a hurricane and a cyclone:
Hurricanes cover a much smaller area, they lack warm and cold fronts, they are
much more violent, and they have winds that travel 120km/hr and spiral inward
towards the low pressure center.
14. Describe how hurricanes form:
Warm air moving over the ocean rises rapidly, condenses, and releases energy
15. What is Latent Heat?
The energy that hurricanes release
16. Why is a storm surge so dangerous?
It causes a rise in sea level and large waves form

17. How are hurricanes categorized?

By the Saffir-Simpson Scale
18. What produces a tornado?
they form when a thunderstorm meets high altitude horizontal winds