Severe Storms

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Severe Storms

• Notes Purple

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Before we start storms

• Remember the water cycle?
• The water cycle plays a large role in the
  intensity of storms providing much of the energy
  as water and air are heated and cooled by the
  sun.
• Humidity is the amount of water vapor or moisture
  in the atmosphere.

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Humidity

• Humidity is also responsible for the clouds we
  see in the sky.
• Clouds are millions of tiny water droplets or ice
  crystals that are suspended in the air.

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Types of Clouds

• There are three main types of clouds
• Cumulus clouds
• These are the puffy, white clouds that look like
  cotton balls.
• Stratus clouds
• These are layer clouds that cover huge areas of
  the sky
• Cirrus clouds
• These are thin, feather-like clouds found at high
  altitudes.

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Cloud details

• Beyond just the three major types, there are
  subtypes of clouds.
• Nimbo- or nimbus implies a chance of
  precipitation.
• Alto- means at a higher elevation than normal.
• All together, this leads to a variety of cloud
  types.

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Air masses

• An air mass is a large body of air that has
  similar temperature and humidity throughout.
• There are 4 types of air masses over the United
  States.
• Maritime Tropical- warm, wet air forming over
  water
• Maritime Polar- cold, dry air forming over water
• Continental Tropical- warm, wet air forming over
  land
• Continental Polar- cold, dry air forming over land

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Fronts

• A front is the boundary between air masses when
  they meet.
• The two main types are cold fronts and warm
  fronts.
• Warm front Cold front

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Severe Storms

• Thunderstorms- A small, intense system with
  strong winds, heavy rain, lightning, and thunder.
• Lightning is an electrical discharge. It is
  like a huge version of static electricity
• Thunder is the sound that results from the
  rapid expansion caused by lightning

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Severe Storms

• Tornadoes are small rotating columns of air with
  high speeds that occur over land.
• Hurricanes, on the other hand, are large rotating
  tropical weather systems that form over water.
  They are also known as typhoons and cyclones.
• Tsunamis are waves that form when large volumes
  of water suddenly move up or down. This can be
  caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
  landslides, or meteorites.