Lab module 8: air masses and weather systems | Geography homework help

Question 23: Where does the heaviest rainfall occur - along the cold front or the warm front?

A. Cold front

B. Warm front. C. Rainfall is equal along both fronts. D. There is no rainfall along either front. Collapse and uncheck the MID-LATITUDE CYCLONES folder.

THUNDERSTORMS AND TORNADOS

Thunderstorms Thunderstorms are formed when parcels of unstable (warm, moist) air are lifted rapidly and vertically from the ground. Lifting mechanisms include convective lifting from the unequal warming of the ground, orographic lifting from air forced over a mountain or similar terrain, or frontal lifting from the leading edge of a cold or warm front. Rapid ascension of unstable air creates strong updrafts (upward moving air) and intense adiabatic cooling (that is, cooling without interacting with the surrounding air). When the updrafts reach the maximum altitude (usually in the troposphere, or over 12 km (40,000 feet) from the Earth’s surface), they change direction and become downdrafts, and precipitate. Typical thunderstorms have weak updrafts and weak downdrafts. Thunderstorms that produce flash floods have strong updrafts but weak downdrafts. Thunderstorms that produce downbursts (or microbursts) of downward, divergent air have weak updrafts but strong downdrafts. When strong updrafts and down drafts are present severe thunderstorms known as supercells are formed. Associated with these thunderstorms are the anvil shaped cumulonimbus clouds, heavy rains or hail, thunder and lightning, gusts of wind, mesocyclones (strong vertical updrafts that rotate and form a vortex of air), and sometimes tornadoes. Expand the THUNDERSTORMS AND TORNADOS folder. Click Thunderstorms.