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Weather Vocabulary Chart
1. Ozone- The layers of the stratosphere that protects life on Earth from the extremely
dangerous UV radiation from the sun. Recently, a seasonal hole has developed in our ozone
over the polar regions due to pollution.
2. Atmosphere- The envelope of gases that surround the earth.
3. Conduction- the transfer of thermal energy between objects, such as a hand to a hot
pan.
4. Convection- The transfer of thermal energy by the movement of heat through a liquid
or gas.
5. Radiation- the transfer of thermal energy through direct waves, such as, heat rays
from the sun.
6. Air Pressure- the pressure exerted on a surface by the weight of the atmosphere
above the surface.
7. Temperature Inversion- increase in temperature with height in an atmospheric layer,
which inverts the temperature-altitude relationship and can worsen air-pollution problems.
8. Wind- The movement of air from high to low pressure.
9. Humidity- The amount of water vapor in the atmosphere at a given location.
10. Relative Humidity- the ratio (percentage) of water vapor contained in a specific
volume of air compared with how much water vapor that amount of air actually can hold.
11. Dew Point-the temperature to which air is cooled at a constant pressure to reach
saturation, at which point of condensation can occur.
12. Latent Heat- stored energy in water vapor that is not released to warm the
atmosphere until condensation takes place.
13. Condensation- process by which a cooling gas changes into a liquid and releases thermal
energy.
14. Evaporation- the change of state from liquid to a gas.
15. Precipitation- all solid and liquid forms of water, including rain, snow, sleet, and hail
that falls from clouds.
16. Condensation nuclei- small particles in the atmosphere around which cloud droplets can
form.
17. Coalescence- the process that occurs when cloud droplets collide and form larger
droplets, which eventually become too heavy to remain aloft and can fall to Earth as
precipitation.
18. Weather- short-term variations in atmosphere phenomena that interact and effect
the environments and life on earth.
19. climate- the long-term average of variation in weather for a particular area.
20. Air mass- large volume of air that has the characteristics of the area over which if
forms.
21. Coriolis Effect- effect of a rotating body that influences the motion of any object or
fluid.
22. Jet Stream- narrow wind band that occurs in the stratosphere above large
temperature contrasts and can flow as fast as 185km/hr.
23. Front- the boundary between two different air masses.
24. Barometer- a device that measures air pressure.
25. Anemometer- instrument that measures wind speed.
26. Hygrometer- a device that measures humidity.
27. El Nino- a band of warm ocean temperatures that occasionally develops off the
western coast of South America and can cause short-term climatic changes felt worldwide.
28. Monsoon- A seasonal wind of South Asia which blows from the southwest in the sum
and northeast in the winter. The rainiest and most damaging impacts are from April to
October.
29. Land Breeze- a breeze that occurs at night and blows from the land to the sea
because the land cools rapidly as the sun sets.
30. Sea Breeze- A breeze from the ocean to that land and occurs during the day as the
land heats up quicker that the ocean.
31. Supercells- a severe thunderstorm that is characterized by intense, rotating updrafts
taking 10 to 20 minutes to reach the top of the cloud.
32. Downbursts- a violent downdraft of wind over 160 km/hr that are concentrated to a
local area.
33. Tornado- a violent, whirling column of air in contact with the ground. Wind speeds
range from 100 to 500 km/hr
34. Fjuita Scale- a scale which ranks tornadoes according to their path of destruction,
wind speed, and duration.
35. Cyclone- a violent tropical storm that circulates counterclockwise in the Northern
Hemisphere and clockwise in the southern.
36. Eyewall- the strongest winds and bands of intense thunderstorms that surround the
eye(the calm low-pressure center) of a hurricane.
37. Tropical Depression- a large rotating storm with thunderstorms and winds at a speed
of 37-62km/hr
38. Hurricane- A well-defined circulation with winds at least 118km/hr.
39. Storm Surge- occurs when hurricane force winds drive a mound of ocean water
towards the costal areas.
40. Tropical Storm- a circulating storm with winds ranging 63-117 km/hr.