Vocabulary Words
Thunderstorm
Vortex
Funnel cloud
Tornado
Hurricane
Typhoon
Cyclone
Eye
Eye wall
Radiation
Greenhouse gases
Greenhouse effect
Conduction
Convection
Heat
Temperature
Air masses
Stable
Unstable
Condensation
Convection
Thermals
Wind
Convection currents
Definitions
A disturbance in the earth’s atmosphere that involves
lightning and thunder.
The movement of a liquid or gas in a spiral around a
central axis
The process of a rapidly rotating cloud becoming visible
as a funnel at the base of the thunder cloud
A violent windstorm that spirals around a rotating
column of air (the vortex) of intense low pressure and
moves in a narrow path over the land
A massive, rotating storm that originates over tropical
oceans and has sustained winds of more than 119 km
per hour
A storm that develops north of the equator in the
Western Pacific Ocean
A storm that develops in the Indian Ocean or off the
coast of Australia
The center of a hurricane
A ring of spiraling clouds and thunderstorms that whirl
around the storm’s center and extend upward to almost
15 km above sea level
The direct transfer of hear energy by electromagnetic
waves
Water vapor and carbon dioxide
Radiated energy reaches the clouds in the atmosphere
then is re-radiated back to the earth
The process by which heat energy transfers from one
material to another through direct contact
Heat energy transfers as a result of the circulating
motion of a fluid, usually a gas or a liquid
A form of energy that transfers because of a
temperature difference
An indication of the amount of heat energy in matter
Bodies of air with nearly uniform conditions of
temperature and humidity
An air mass whose temperature does not decrease with
altitude
An air mass whose temperature decreases rapidly with
an increase in altitude
A process which releases tremendous amounts of heat
into the atmosphere
The movement of heat through air
Rising pockets of air
The moving part of a convection current
The vertical movement of warm air upward and cool air
downward due to the uneven heating of the earth’s
surfaces