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T.
Air Masses:
Changes in the weather are caused by movements of large
bodies of air called air masses.
Air
masses are named from the area they are formed.
Four major types of air masses that
affect the United States are:
1. Maritime Polar
- cool, moist air
2. Maritime
tropical - warm, moist
air
3. Continental
Polar - cold, dry
air
4. Continental
troical - hot,
dry air
U.
Fronts:
When two air masses
that have different properties meet, they do
not mix well.
Instead, a boundry forms between the two air masses.
This boundry is called a front.
The weather in a front is usually unsettled
and stormy.
FOUR TYPES OF FRONTS:
*1.
Cold
Front -
pushes the warm air up;
violent
storms with fair,
cool
weather usually follows.
*2.
Warm
Front
- overtakes
a cold air mass;
rain followed by hot,
humid
weather usually follows.
*3.
Occluded Front
- when a cold front overtakes
a warm front; less
extreme weather than a
cold front.
*4. Stationary Front
- warm air mass meets a cold air mass and no
movement occurs, rain
falls for many days.
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