CHAPTER 9
WEATHER AND
CLIMATE
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What Is Weather? Climate?
Weather is the day-to-day condition of Earth's
atmosphere at a particular time and place.
Climate refers to the average year-after-year
conditions of temperature and precipitation in a
particular region.
Both climate and weather are dynamic – they
change with time
weather are dynamic – they change w
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Weather & Climate
Definitions
• Weather- “the state of the atmosphere with
respect to heat or cold, wetness or dryness,
calm or storm, clearness or cloudiness”.
• Climate – “the average course or condition
of the weather at a place usually over a
period of years as exhibited by temperature,
wind velocity, and precipitation”
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Main points to remember as we
learn about weather:
• The sun warms the earth’s surface and
therefore all the air above the surface
• The earth is warmed most at the equator
and least at the poles---why?
• The air above land is warmed more quickly
than air above water.
• Warm air expands and rises, creating an
area of low pressure; cold air is dense and
sinks, creating an area of high pressure
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Elements that Influence Weather
• Temperature
• Air Pressure
• Air Masses
• Relative Humidity
• Wind Movement
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Elements that Influence Weather
TEMPERATURE
the average motion of molecules
↑ TEMP = ↑movement of molecules =
feels hot
↓ TEMP = ↓movement of molecules =
feels cold
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Elements that Influence Weather
Air Pressure
• Warm air = expanding or rising
air = leaves behind L pressure
• Cold Air =sinking air = leaves
an area of H pressure
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Elements that Influence Weather
Air Masses
• Air masses are masses of air that have
the same characteristics of the surface
over which it develops
• Pressure Systems
descending (going down)=H pressure
ascending (going up)=L pressure
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Weather Foldable
• Warm front
• Cold front
• Occluded front
• Stationary Front
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Fronts: the boundary between 2
air masses
• Warm Front: warm air slides over departing
cold air- large bands of precipitation form
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Cold Fronts
• Cold air pushes under a warm air mass. Warm
air rises quickly=narrow bands of violent
storms form
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Occluded Front
• 2 air masses merge and force warm air
between them to rise quickly. Strong winds
and heavy precipitation will occur
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Stationary Front
• Warm or cold front stops moving. Light wind
and precipitation may occur across the front
boundary
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Water in the Atmosphere: Humidity
• Humidity: measure of the amount of water
vapor stuck between molecules in the air.
The air’s ability to hold water depends on
the air temperature
• The hotter the air, the more water the air can
hold
• Cold air: molecules move slower so
droplets of water can start to stick together
= condensation
• Relative humidity: the amount of water
vapor(%) compared to the amount the air
can hold- tool used is a psychrometer.
• 100%=air is saturated
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Wind Movement
• Uneven heating of
the earth’s surface
causes some areas to
be warmer than
others.
• As we know, warm
always follows cold
to share it’s warmth-
when this happens in
the atmosphere, wind
happens!
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