The Rain In Spain Falls Mainly
On The Plain
Air Masses
Air Masses
• air masses are large bodies of air in the
troposphere with similar characteristics of
humidity and temperature
• they originate in one area and take the
humidity and temperature of that area to
other areas
Air Masses
• the humidity and temperature
characteristics are described generally:
• Dry or wet
• Warm or cool
Air Masses
• each characteristic of an air mass has a
symbol:
• wet (maritime) – m
• dry (continental) – c
• cold (polar) – P
• warm (tropical) - T
Air Masses
• each air mass has 2 symbols with the
moisture content first:
• wet, cool – mP
• dry, cool – cP
• wet, warm – mT
• dry, warm - cT
Air Masses
• most of our weather is due to these air
masses interacting
• these air masses get moved around by the
high and low pressures