Air Masses and Weather Patterns, Page 10 of 10

To make sense of temperature and weather patterns over a large area, meteorologists use the concepts of air masses and fronts. In this module, we have defined the concepts and looked at fronts on current surface maps to determine their relationship to temperature. When the weather conditions are changing at a particular station because of temperature advection, it is necessary to look elsewhere on the map to forecast the weather. We identified two techniques. The first involves estimating the wind speed and looking upstream to see what the air which will be over our station tomorrow is doing today. The second involves looking at current conditions at places with the same relative position with respect to fronts and the pressure pattern as the forecast city will have tomorrow. After considering changes in temperature due to changing cloud cover, winds, or changes in elevation, a reasonably accurate forecast can be made.

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Questions or Comments

Technical: E-mail John Fulton < jdfult@nimbus.met.tamu.edu >
Scientific: E-mail Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon. < nielsen@ariel.met.tamu.edu >