When winds move air masses, they carry their weather conditions (heat or cold, dry or moist) from the source region to a new region. When the air mass reaches a new region, it might clash with another air mass that has a different temperature and humidity. This can create a severe storm.

Air masses that form near the equator or in the tropics (equatorial or tropical air masses) are warmer than air masses that form in polar areas or uin the Arctic (polar or arctic air masses).

Air masses build when the air stagnates over a region for several days/weeks. To move these huge regions of air, the weather pattern needs to change to allow the air mass to move. One major influence of air mass movement is the upper level winds such as the upper level winds associated with the jet stream.

Arctic air masses, designated by the letter ‘A’, are very cold as they originate over the Arctic or Antarctic regions. Polar air masses, designated by the letter ‘P’, are not as cold as Arctic air masses as they originate over the higher latitudes of both land and sea.

Air Mass Movement Air masses are slowly pushed along by high-level winds. When an air mass moves over a new region, it shares its temperature and humidity with that region. So the temperature and humidity of a particular location depends partly on the characteristics of the air mass that sits over it.

Front: The boundary between two air masses of different density. When it does not move, it’s called “stationary”; “warm” when warmer air replaces cooler air; “cold” when cooler air replaces warmer air.

Stationary Front a front that is not moving. When a warm or cold front stops moving, it becomes a stationary front.

Cold air is always heavier than an equal volume of hot air. “Air” is actually a mixture of several gases. By volume, dry air contains 78.09 percent nitrogen, 20.95 percent oxygen, 0.93 percent argon, 0.039 percent carbon dioxide and small amounts of other gases.

These are Polar (cold), Arctic (very cold), Equatorial (warm and very moist), and Tropical (warm).

Temperature and pressure differences between the two air masses cause winds. Winds may be very strong along a cold front. Cold fronts often bring sudden changes in the weather. There may be a thin line of storms right at the front that moves as it moves.

Warm fronts cause rapid changes in weather, while cold fronts cause several days of cloudy weather. Warm fronts cause thunderstorms in the summer, while cold fronts cause rain when the air is humid. not a. Study the image, which shows an air mass moving into a region.

Why do air Masses Form Mostly in High Pressure Areas? High pressure areas make it stable for air masses to form. Source air contains uniform temperature and humidity.

Sometimes when two air masses meet, neither one pushes the other out of the way, resulting in a stationary front. Another type of weather front is an occluded front, which happens when an air mass gets separated from the ground by a fast-moving cold front.

Fronts

• Sharp temperature changes over a relatively short distance.
• Change in moisture content.
• Rapid shifts in wind direction.
• Pressure changes.
• Clouds and precipitation patterns.

Although many factors combine to influence weather, the four main ones are solar radiation, the amount of which changes with Earth’s tilt, orbital distance from the sun and latitude, temperature, air pressure and the abundance of water.

An abrupt temperature change over a short distance is a good indication that a front is located somewhere in between. If warmer air is replacing colder air, then the front should be analyzed as a warm front. If colder air is replacing warmer air, then the front should be analyzed as a cold front.

The three main factors of weather are light (solar radiation), water (moisture) and temperature.

Factors that affect the weather condition: temperature, pressure, moisture content, speed and direction in which its moves.

The five factors that determine the weather of any land area are: the amount of solar energy received because of latitude; the area’s elevation or proximity to mountains; nearness to large bodies of water and relative temperatures of land and water; the number of such storm systems as cyclones, hurricanes, and …

Factors influencing insolation

• Solar constant.
• The angle of incidence of the sun’s rays.
• Duration of the day.
• Earth Distance from Sun.
• Transparency of the atmosphere.

The major factors which influence the amount of insolation received are:

• Rotation of the earth on its axis.
• The angle of incidence of the sun’s rays.
• Duration of the day.
• Transparency of the atmosphere.

At the equinoxes, solar insolation is at a maximum at the equator and is zero at the poles. At the summer solstice of the northern hemisphere, daily insolation reaches a maximum at the North Pole because of the 24-hour-long solar day.