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Review Questions: Precipitation Processes

Definitions

    1. What is an adiabatic process?
    2. What is the environmental lapse rate?
    3. What is the dry adiabatic lapse rate?
    4. What is the saturated adiabatic lapse rate?
    5. What does orographic mean?
    6. What is a rainshadow desert?
    7. What is the windward side of a mountain?
    8. What is convection?
    9. What does stability mean?
    10. What is the condensation level?
    11. What is the stability level?
    12. What is a midlatitude cyclone?
    13. What is an air mass?
    14. What is a front?

Content

    1. What are the four uplift mechanisms that can lead to condensation and associated precipitation?
    2. How are adiabatic changes in air temperature induced?
    3. Does the environmental lapse rate change? If so, how do we know what it is?
    4. Why is the saturated adiabatic lapse rate less than the dry adiabatic lapse rate?
    5. In the midlatitudes, which side of the Rocky Mountains and which side of the Andes Mountains will have wet conditions and which side will have dry conditions? Why?
    6. How do we use lapse rates to determine the stability of air?
    7. How can we determine whether rising air will result in condensation and cloud formation?
    8. What two factors determine the amount of vertical cloud growth?
    9. Why don't tropical cyclones form along the equator?
    10. What are the major air masses that affect weather in North America and where are their source regions located?
    11. Do fronts form in tropical latitudes such as along the intertropical convergence zone?
    12. Why is precipitation associated with a cold front generally more intense than precipitation associated with a warm front?
    13. Why does precipitation along a cold front generally occur at or near the surface location of the front, while precipitation associated with a warm front generally occurs ahead of the surface location of the front?
    14. How are fronts symbolized on weather map, and how can you determine the direction they're moving in?
    15. What types of clouds are associated with cold fronts compared to warm fronts?
    16. What changes in weather are associated with the approach and eventual passing of a front?
    17. How is a mid-latitude cyclone different from a tropical cyclone?
    18. What is the difference between a tornado watch and a tornado warning?

Other Resources

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Karen A. Lemke: klemke@uwsp.edu
Last revised January 16, 2009