Factors that affect weather

Air pressure, humidity, temperature,

precipitation
 The Water Cycle
1. Take out a clean sheet of paper.
2. Number your paper 1-7 leaving half of the page
for a picture.
3. Write the 7 definitions on the following slide.
4. Wait for Mrs. Couch to draw the picture (Yes you
have to draw the picture)
 The Parts of the Water Cycle
1. Evaporation 6. Infiltration
2. Condensation 7. Percolation
3. Precipitation 8. Surface Run off
9. Transpiration
4. Deposition
10.Urination
5. Sublimation
11.Accumulation
 Important parts of the water cycle
1. Evaporation – liquid to gas
2. Condensation – gas to liquid
3. Precipitation – any form of water
falling from the clouds to the ground
4. Transpiration – plant sweat
5. Surface Run off – water moving over
land from higher to lower ground
6. Infiltration – Water fills the space
between particles of soil
 The water cycle – cont.
1. Percolation – Ground water moving
below earth’s surface
2. Accumulation – a big pile of water, pond,
puddle, ocean, river etc.
3. Urination – liquid waste – yuk
4. Sublimation – Water vapor freezes into a
solid – makes snow
5. Deposition – Solid that vaporizes – skips
the liquid phase
Humidity
Humidity and Relative Humidity
• Humidity – the • Relative Humidity =
The actual amount of
amount of water water vapor in the air
vapor in the divided by the
atmosphere maximum amount of
water vapor the air
can hold
 Measured with
• A sling psychrometer
• Made of 2 thermometers
• A wet bulb
• A dry bulb
 How it works
1 – sling it over your head for
20 seconds so air blows
over the thermometers
2 – the wet bulb is cooled by
evaporation
3 – therefore the
temperature of the wet
bulb is < the dry bulb
4 – use the chart to
compare the
temperatures
 Dew Point
• Dew Point = The
temperature at which air
would have to cool to
reach saturation (all of
the water vapor it could
hold)
• The dew point will never
be greater than the
temperature!!
• BUT if it is equal –
humidity = 100% - causes
condensation  fog,
clouds, precipitation
Check out the Dew point
Calculator!
 How do clouds form?
Remember:
**Warm air holds more water than cold air
**As air rises it cools
Condensation:
• occurs when there is enough water vapor in the air
• tiny particles must be present for the water to stick to
Dew Point:
• The temperature at which condensation occurs
Clouds form when warm air rises and the water vapor the
air holds is cooled to the dew point

Let’s put this in your own words!!!

 Important Cloud
Vocabulary
• Cirro – curly • Alto –
or whispy middle
• Nimbus – • Cumulo -
rain heaped
• Stratus -
layer
 3 Ways to Identify Clouds
1. Altitude
2. Shape
3. The weather they bring

Let’s look at some examples:

 Cumulo (heap/pile)
• Fair weather
• 2 – 18 km
 Cirrus (curly/whispy)
• Above 6 km – very high in the sky
• Made of ice crystals
 Stratus (layer – spread out)
• Cover all or most of the sky
• Thicker – brings rain/snow/drizzle
 Other Clouds
• Nimbo – Rain
• Alto – middle 2 – 6 km
• Fog – stratus clouds low to the ground
• Cumulonimbus – Thunderheads
• Contrails – Jet trails
Factors that affect weather
Air pressure, humidity, temperature,
precipitation
 Remember …
• Air has mass and takes up space.

• Air pressure – the mass of the air being

pulled down on an area of the earth’s
surface.

• It pushes in all directions - it does not

crush objects
 2 things that affect air pressure
• Temperature • The amount of air
above it
 Air moves?
• Yes – air moves from areas of high
pressure to low pressure quickly
 Weather Indicators
• Falling Air Pressure • Rising Air Pressure
• Storms • Good Weather
 Measuring Air Pressure –
Barometer
• Mercury - glass tube
• Aneroid Barometer –
open at the bottom In
air tight metal
a glass dish of
chamber
mercury
• The wall flex in and
• Measured in inches
out with the changes
in air pressure.
• Measured in millibars
• 1 inch = 33.87 mb
 Cheat sheet
• Elevation • Pressure
• Elevation • Pressure

• Pressure • Density
• Pressure • Density

• Elevation • Density
• Elevation • Density
Precipitation
 What is precipitation?

• Any form of water that falls

from the clouds to the
ground
 Rain
• The most common
• Must be at least
.5mm in diameter
• Any smaller =mist
or drizzle
• Which falls from
nimbostratus
clouds
 Sleet
• Occurs when
rain falls through
a layer of air
below freezing
• Freezes into
solid ice before it
hits the ground
• Smaller than 5
mm
 Freezing Rain
• Falls as rain and
freezes when it
touches a surface
below freezing
• Does not freeze in
the air
 Hail
• Ice > than 5 mm in
diameter
• ONLY from
cumulonimbus clouds
• Adds layers from up
and down drafts in the
cloud
• Can damage property
 Snow
• Water vapor that
turns directly into
ice (not frozen
liquid water)
• Each snowflake
has six sides and
is different
 How is it measured?
• Liquid Precipitation –
rain is measured with
a rain gauge
• Snow is measured
with a ruler
 Drought

Long periods of
unusually low
precipitation
 Other Terms:

1) Drought: long period of low

precipitation
2) Cloud Seeding: dropping tiny
crystals of dry ice (solid CO2)
and silver iodide sprinkled into
clouds from planes. May be
used to clear fog at airports.