A large body of air that has a similar temperature and water content or humidity throughout is called an air mass. Air masses have similar temperature and moisture/dryness. When different air masses meet it causes the weather to change.
When two different air masses collide a front forms. Typically this is the boundary between cold and warm air masses.
Weather fronts appear as different colored lines that extend outward from the pressure center. They mark the boundary where two opposite air masses meet.
Warm fronts are indicated by curved red lines with red semicircles.
Light rain and humid temperatures
Cold fronts are curved blue lines with blue triangles.
likely to produce thunderstorms
violent storms generally form
Stationary fronts have alternating sections of red curves with semicircles and blue curves with triangles.
Neither air mass that meets is stronger, so it doesn't move
it can stay over one area for a long time
Occluded fronts are curved purple lines with both semicircles and triangles. Weather fronts are found only on surface weather maps.

Categorize the following
Cold air is traveling and meets warm air. Cold air goes under the warm air because it is more dense.
Associated with gentle rain and, cirrus clouds and humid temperatures
Warm air is traveling and meets cold air. Warm air is less dense than cold air and rises above the cold air.
Associated with violent weather and thunderstorms because they move quickly.
Cold front
Warm Front
Categorize the fronts




Warm front
Cold front
Occluded front
Stationary front
Categorize the following




Cold Front
Warm Front
Stationary Front
Occluded Front
An air mass is a large body of air with generally uniform temperature and humidity. The area over which an air mass originates is what provides its characteristics. The longer the air mass stays over its source region, the more likely it will acquire the properties of the surface below.
There are two broad overarching divisions of air masses based upon moisture content.
Continental air masses, designated by the lowercase letter "c", originate over continents or land and are therefore dry air masses.
Maritime air masses, designated by the letter "m", originate over the oceans and are therefore moist air masses.
Each of the two divisions are then divided based upon the temperature of the surface over which they originate.
Arctic air masses, designated by the letter "A", originate over the Arctic or Antarctic regions and therefore are very cold.
Polar air masses, designated by the letter "P", originate over the higher latitudes of both land and sea and are therefore not as cold as Arctic air masses.
Tropical air masses, designated by the letter "T", originate over the lower latitudes of both land and sea and therefore are warm/hot.
Putting both designations together, we have, for example, a "continental arctic" air mass designated by "cA", which originates over the poles and is therefore very cold and dry.
Continental polar (cP) is not as cold as the Arctic air mass but is also very dry.
Maritime polar (mP) is also cold but moist due to its origin over the oceans.
The desert region air masses (hot and dry) are designated by "cT" for "continental tropical".
Hot and moist maritime Tropical (mT) air masses develop due to the fact that this air mass develops near the equator over the ocean.
As these air masses move around the Earth, they can acquire additional attributes.
For example, in winter, an arctic air mass (very cold and dry air) can move over the ocean, picking up some warmth and moisture from the warmer ocean and becoming a maritime polar air mass (mP) – one that is still fairly cold but contains moisture. If that same polar air mass moves south from Canada into the southern U.S., it will pick up some of the warmth of the ground, but due to lack of moisture, it remains very dry. This is called a continental polar air mass (cP).
Create your own planet!!! Give your planet a name. Draw the equator for your planet. Add ocean and land masses.
Label air mass parts of your planet:
A) maritime polar mP
B) maritime tropical mT
C) continental polar cP
D) continental tropical CT
Disperse the following into climate and weather categories
Air pressure
Years worth of data
Long-term
Short-term
Can change in a few hours
Analyzes years of patterns
Amount of precipitation today
Wind speed
Relative humidity for the next
two hours
Cloud cover
Hurricane season
Weather
Climate
Weather refers to short term atmospheric conditions while climate is the weather of a specific region averaged over a long period of time. Climate change refers to long-term changes.
Please match the description to either explaining Weather OR Climate
The heatwave in Milwaukee lasted 3 days
There is typically a pattern of more rain in the spring than in the summer in New England
Alaska averages of temperature of 25 degrees every summer.
I need to wear a sweater today, it looks like it is going to be cold today
San Fransisco has mild winters and dry summers
On our way to the mall, we were caught in a hail storm!
Categorize the following
Occurs when a warm front is taken over by a cold front, which is generally faster than a warm front. The warm air is trapped between two cooler air masses.
Warm air and cold air meet but do not move in either direction. Winds blow side to side , which helps air stay in one place.
Associated with rain or snow. Cumulonimbus clouds and nimbostratus clouds.
Associated with gentle rain and, cirrus clouds and humid temperatures