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Severe Weather Study Guide

1. What is another name for a typhoon? Another name for hurricane

2. In which months are tornadoes the most frequent? April to June

3. What is an air mass? Immense body of air characterized by similar properties at any given altitude

4. What is a vortex? Rotating column of air

5. How would you describe an mT air mass? Warm and wet

6. What two properties characterize an air mass? Temperature and moisture

7. Where do maritime air masses form? Over water

8. Where in North America are there most likely to be cold and wet conditions? North, near water

9. Where in North America are there most likely to be hot and dry conditions? South, over land

10. What is a stationary front? The surface position of the front does not move

11. What does the Saffir-Simpson scale measure/classify? Hurricane intensity

12. What causes a hurricane to lose energy when it moves onto land? Friction and lack of warm, moist air

13. Describe the eye of a hurricane. Warmest temperatures

14. Is the center of a tornado characterized by low or high pressure? low

15. What type of air is always forced upwards along a front? Warmer, less dense air

16. What happens when an active cold front overtakes a warm front? An occluded front forms

17. How would you describe a cT air mass? Is it hot or cold, wet or dry? Hot and dry

18. In which type of front is the flow of air on both sides of the front almost parallel to the line of the front? stationary

19. How do thunderstorms form? Warm, humid air rises in an unstable environment

20. Where do the greatest number of thunderstorms occur? tropics

21. What is a front? Boundary that separate different air masses

22. When you see cirrus clouds, what kind of front is approaching? Warm front

23. What type of air masses is typically behind a cold front? Cold air

24. Where do hurricanes form? 5 and 20 degrees latitude

25. What will happen to a...