Index of Common Weather Terms with their Definitions

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Index of Common Weather Terms

A

Accretion: Clumping together of particles or droplets.

Adiabatic process: A change in temperature without heat being added or taken away... but by pressure changes as air rises or sinks.

Advection: Horizontal movement of meteorological properties, such as heat or humidity.

Advection fog: Fog formed by warm, humid air moving over cooler ground or water.

Air mass: A large body of air with about the same characteristics, such as temperature, pressure, and humidity.

Altimeter: A special barometer used to measure altitude.

Atmosphere: The air that surrounds the Earth.

B

Barometer: A device used to measure air pressure.

Beaufort Scale: A scale used to classify wind speeds, devised in 1805 by Admiral Francis Beaufort of the British Navy.

Blizzard: Snow falling with winds in excess of 35 mph and visibility of 1/4 mile or less.

C

Climate: Average weather over a long time period, usually 30 years.

Cold front: An advancing mass of cold air, frequently bringing thunderstorms.

Condensation: The change of water vapor from a gas to a liquid.

Conduction: The transfer of heat within a substance, or between substances through molecular action.

Coriolis Effect: The curving motion of anything, including wind, caused by the Earth's rotation.

Cyclone: An area of low atmospheric pressure with counterclockwise wind motions in the Northern Hemisphere, and clockwise spin in the Southern Hemisphere.

D

Dew: Water droplets formed by condensation of vapor.

Dew point: A measure of humidity given in terms of the temperature at which dew will start to form.

Drizzle: Falling water drops with a diameter less than 0.02 inch.

Drought: Abnormal lack of precipitation for a given region.

E F

El Nino: A combination of atmospheric and oceanic events characterized by a warming of the water in the equatorial Pacific ocean.

Flash Flood: Flooding with rapid water rise.

Fog: A cloud on the ground.

Freezing: Changing from a liquid to a solid.

Freezing rain: Supercooled raindrops that freeze when they come into contact with something.

Front: The boundary between air masses of different densities.

Fujita Scale: Wind damage scale devised by Theodore Fujita.

Funnel cloud: A rotating column of air extending from a cloud but not reaching the ground.

G H I J

Ground fog: A layer of fog, frequently less than 200 feet high, that forms when the ground cools.

Hail: Balls of ice that grow in thunderstorm updrafts.

Halo: A ring or arc forming around the sun or moon caused by ice crystal clouds.

High: A region of high-atmospheric pressure, with clockwise winds in the Northern Hemisphere.

Hurricane: A tropical cyclone with winds over 74 mph.

Inversion: A stable air condition in which air near the ground is cooler than air at elevation.

Jet stream: A narrow band of atmospheric winds with speeds in excess of 57 mph.

K L M

Latent heat: Energy stored when water evaporates or ice melts.

Lightning: A visible discharge of electricity associated with thunderstorms.

Low: An area of low atmospheric pressure and counter-clockwise winds in the Northern Hemisphere.

Millibar: A metric unit of air pressure.

Monsoon: Persistent, widespread, seasonal winds that usually bring rain.

N O P Q R

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: The U.S. federal agency responsible for describing and predicting changes in the Earth's environment.

National Weather Service: The U.S. federal agency that is responsible for observing and forecasting weather.

Occluded front: A boundary between cool, cold, and warm air masses.

Precipitation fog: Fog that forms when precipitation falls into cold air.

Rain: Falling water drops with a diameter greater than 0.02 inch.

Rainbow: An arc or circle or colored light caused by refraction and reflection of sunlight by water droplets.

Relative humidity: The ratio of the amount of water vapor actually present in air compared to the amount of vapor that the air could maximally hold at a given temperature and pressure.

S

Saturation: Point at which the amount of water vapor in the air is at a maximum for a given pressure and temperature.

Severe thunderstorm: A thunderstorm with winds exceeding 57 mph, or with hailstones of 3/4 inch or larger.

Shower: Intermittent precipitation of short duration.

Sleet: Frozen raindrops

Snow: Precipitation composed of ice crystals.

Squall line: A line of thunderstorms.

Stable air: Air in which there are few updrafts or downdrafts. Clouds are low and flat.

Stationary front: A warm/cold front boundry with neither cold nor warm air advancing.

Sublimation: Phase change of water directly from vapor to ice, or the reverse.

T

Thunder: Sound produced by a lightning discharge.

Thunderstorm: Localized storm producing lightning and thunder, often associated with a passing cold front.

Tornado: A strong, rotating column of air that reaches the ground.

Trough: An elongated area of low pressure, running generally north-south.

Typhoon: A tropical cyclone with winds greater than 74 mph in the north Pacific.

U V W X Y Z

Unstable air: Air in which temperature and humidity are favorable for the creation of updrafts and downdrafts.

Upslope fog: Fog that forms in humid air flowing uphill.

Virga: Rain that turns back into water vapor before reaching the ground.

Warm front: A warm/cold air boundry with the warm air advancing.

Water vapor: The gaseous form of water.

Waterspout: A tornado from the bottom of a cloud to the surface of a body of water.

Wind chill factor: Effect of wind blowing away the warmed air near the body.

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