ATMO 201 FALL FINAL EXAM LOGAN STUDY GUIDE
colorado low - Answer -blizzards; severe storm outbreaks; flooding
colorado low (or lee-side low) - Answer -a type of low pressure system associated with
a westerly wind blowing a collection of air parcels over a mountain
alberta clipper - Answer -a low pressure system that has a combination of pacific and
canadian air (mP and cP); moves from western canada to northeast U.S. really quickly
(I'm guessing this happens b/c the low has two air masses on its backside pushing it
west to east)
alberta clippers - Answer -minimal precipitation in most occurences; reinforcing cold air
(similar to a colorado low)
nor'easter - Answer -complex menacing storm system associated with multiple low
pressure systems that occurs in the late autumn/winter months
"San Angelo" Low develops into a Nor'easter - Answer -waiting to hear back from
professor logan on what the hell a san angelo low is
mesoscale meteorology - Answer -meteorological features that span a spatial scale of
20-200 km and a temporal scale of 6-24 hours (weather events that happen over 20-
200 km and last 6-24 hours)
mesoscale weather - Answer -thunderstorms/tornadoes; hurricanes; lake-effect snow;
mountain/valley breezes; lake/sea breezes
mesoscale - Answer -smaller than synoptic scale (fronts) and larger than microscale
(dust devils)
single-cell thunderstorm - Answer -air mass or pop-up thunderstorms
single cell (air mass) thunderstorms - Answer -convection due to normal solar heating;
no frontal or upper level causes; no sudden change in wind
thunderstorm development - Answer -1) growth stage
2) mature stage
3) dissipation stage
growth (cumulus) stage - Answer -updraft causes cloud formation (warm rain process)
mature stage - Answer -the stage of a thunderstorm with a mixture of updrafts and
compensating downdrafts (cold and warm rain processes)
, dissipation stage - Answer -downdraft dominant - storm begins to dissipate due to
stronger downdrafts and weaker updrafts
downdrafts - Answer -caused by either evaporating raindrops due to dry air entrainment
(cooling effect) or falling raindrops creating a downwards pull on surrounding air
multi-cell thunderstorm - Answer -clusters of single-cell thunderstorms that clump
together
multi-cell thunderstorms - Answer -moderate to strong vertical wind shear; updraft
doesn't interfere with downdraft; stronger convection
separates updraft from downdraft - Answer -what does the moderate or strong vertical
wind shear do?
when the convection increases (the updraft causes the sphere barrier to break) -
Answer -when does a multi-cell thunderstorm pierce the troposphere and stratosphere
and cause the air to mix?
outflow boundary - Answer -gust front becomes a "cold front"; downdraft causes cold
pool with a meso-HIGH at the center
downBURST - Answer -localized strong downdraft; can cause straight line winds up to
150 mph
supercell thunderstorm - Answer -a thunderstorm with a mesocyclone (aka rotation)
thunderstorms - Answer -localized convection of moist, conditionally unstable air
severe thunderstorms - Answer -type of thunderstorm typically containing large hail,
damaging winds, tornadoes, sleet, and snow
growth stage and dissipation stage - Answer -what remains the same regardless of the
type of thunderstorm?
cloud activity during the mature stage (is there rotation or severe weather? how long
does it last? - Answer -what is the main difference between the type of thunderstorms?
downdraft - Answer -a downward current of air
causes rainfall (causes atmosphere to regain stability by allowing cold air to sink) -
Answer -what is the significance of a downdraft in a thunderstorm?
multi-cell thunderstorms and supercell - Answer -what types of thunderstorms
maintains themselves?
colorado low - Answer -blizzards; severe storm outbreaks; flooding
colorado low (or lee-side low) - Answer -a type of low pressure system associated with
a westerly wind blowing a collection of air parcels over a mountain
alberta clipper - Answer -a low pressure system that has a combination of pacific and
canadian air (mP and cP); moves from western canada to northeast U.S. really quickly
(I'm guessing this happens b/c the low has two air masses on its backside pushing it
west to east)
alberta clippers - Answer -minimal precipitation in most occurences; reinforcing cold air
(similar to a colorado low)
nor'easter - Answer -complex menacing storm system associated with multiple low
pressure systems that occurs in the late autumn/winter months
"San Angelo" Low develops into a Nor'easter - Answer -waiting to hear back from
professor logan on what the hell a san angelo low is
mesoscale meteorology - Answer -meteorological features that span a spatial scale of
20-200 km and a temporal scale of 6-24 hours (weather events that happen over 20-
200 km and last 6-24 hours)
mesoscale weather - Answer -thunderstorms/tornadoes; hurricanes; lake-effect snow;
mountain/valley breezes; lake/sea breezes
mesoscale - Answer -smaller than synoptic scale (fronts) and larger than microscale
(dust devils)
single-cell thunderstorm - Answer -air mass or pop-up thunderstorms
single cell (air mass) thunderstorms - Answer -convection due to normal solar heating;
no frontal or upper level causes; no sudden change in wind
thunderstorm development - Answer -1) growth stage
2) mature stage
3) dissipation stage
growth (cumulus) stage - Answer -updraft causes cloud formation (warm rain process)
mature stage - Answer -the stage of a thunderstorm with a mixture of updrafts and
compensating downdrafts (cold and warm rain processes)
, dissipation stage - Answer -downdraft dominant - storm begins to dissipate due to
stronger downdrafts and weaker updrafts
downdrafts - Answer -caused by either evaporating raindrops due to dry air entrainment
(cooling effect) or falling raindrops creating a downwards pull on surrounding air
multi-cell thunderstorm - Answer -clusters of single-cell thunderstorms that clump
together
multi-cell thunderstorms - Answer -moderate to strong vertical wind shear; updraft
doesn't interfere with downdraft; stronger convection
separates updraft from downdraft - Answer -what does the moderate or strong vertical
wind shear do?
when the convection increases (the updraft causes the sphere barrier to break) -
Answer -when does a multi-cell thunderstorm pierce the troposphere and stratosphere
and cause the air to mix?
outflow boundary - Answer -gust front becomes a "cold front"; downdraft causes cold
pool with a meso-HIGH at the center
downBURST - Answer -localized strong downdraft; can cause straight line winds up to
150 mph
supercell thunderstorm - Answer -a thunderstorm with a mesocyclone (aka rotation)
thunderstorms - Answer -localized convection of moist, conditionally unstable air
severe thunderstorms - Answer -type of thunderstorm typically containing large hail,
damaging winds, tornadoes, sleet, and snow
growth stage and dissipation stage - Answer -what remains the same regardless of the
type of thunderstorm?
cloud activity during the mature stage (is there rotation or severe weather? how long
does it last? - Answer -what is the main difference between the type of thunderstorms?
downdraft - Answer -a downward current of air
causes rainfall (causes atmosphere to regain stability by allowing cold air to sink) -
Answer -what is the significance of a downdraft in a thunderstorm?
multi-cell thunderstorms and supercell - Answer -what types of thunderstorms
maintains themselves?
