ATM OCN (Meteorology) 100 - Lecture 3
MIDLATITUDE WEATHER SYSTEMS
PART I: THE SETTING, AIR MASSES & FRONTS
Fall 1997
Lecture #25 Scheduled for:
31 OCT 1997 (F)
Recommended Readings from Moran and Morgan (1997):
pages 253-261.
MIDLATITUDE WEATHER SYSTEMS
PART I: THE SETTING, AIR MASSES & FRONTS
Summer 1997
Lecture Scheduled for:
21 JUL 1997 (M)
Recommended Readings from Moran and Morgan (1997):
pages 253-261.
Objectives:
- To discuss the basis of air mass classification.
- To differentiate among the various major air mass types.
- To list two criteria that an air mass source region must meet.
- To identify the various air masses that regularly form over
or invade North America.
- To discuss the weather conditions associated with cP, mP,
mT and cT air masses that influence North America.
- To describe the processes that contribute to air mass modification,
identifying those conditions that determine the degree of air
mass modification .
- To list the weather conditions associated with modified (k
and w) air masses.
- To list at least two criteria involved with the analysis of
a front on a surface weather map.
- To identify the conditions needed for frontogenesis and frontolysis.
- To compare and contrast warm fronts, cold fronts, stationary
and occluded fronts in terms of their structure and associated
weather.
- To distinguish between cold type and warm type occluded fronts.
Outline:
A. SCOPE OF MIDLATITUDES
- Geographic Extent
- Human Aspect
- Meteorological Significance of Midlatitudes
B. AIR MASSES
- Definition
- Historical Perspective
- Air Mass Considerations
- Air Mass Characteristics
- Dimensions
- Life History
- Requirements For Air Mass Generation
- Traditional Air Mass Classification Scheme & Analysis
- Primary Air Mass Types
- Air Mass Generation Mechanisms
- Air Mass Modification
- Air Masses Over North America
C. FRONTS or FRONTAL ZONES
- Introduction
- Principal Global Frontal Zones
- Types of Synoptic Scale Fronts
- Cold Fronts
- Warm Fronts
- Stationary Fronts
- Occluded Fronts
- Frontal Analysis on Weather Maps
- Temperature Gradients
- Dewpoint Gradients
- Wind Shifts
- Pressure Patterns
- Characteristic Cloud Patterns
- Vertical Structure of a Frontal Surface
- Cold Fronts
- Warm Fronts
- Stationary Fronts
- Occluded Fronts
- Temporal Evolution of Fronts
- Frontogenesis
- Frontolysis
Links to Other References:
Last revision 24 November 1997
Produced by Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D.
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI 53706
hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu