Exam 12: Middle-Latitude Cyclones

Cloud patterns in visible and infrared satellite images can be very helpful in identifying vorticity maxima in regions where clouds are present. In cloud-free areas, a type of infrared image called a(n)____ image measures wavelengths of radiation emitted by water vapor. The swirling patterns of moisture clearly identify the position of vorticity centers.

In late October 2012, ____________________ was one of the most dramatic combinations of tropical and extratropical cyclone processes ever observed.

During baroclinic instability, the strong wind speed shear that exists from the surface up to a level of approximately 500 mb is disturbed by a shortwave.

Atmospheric shortwaves usually move ____ at a speed that is ____ than longwaves.

A ____ disturbance imbedded in a longwave is called a shortwave.

On a surface weather map that shows an open wave cyclone, the warm sector can be observed ____.

During the Blizzard of 1983, a(n)____________________ turned into a ferocious storm.

The polar jet stream removes air above the surface anticyclone and supplies air to the surface cyclone.

Which of the following regions of North America do not show a propensity for cyclogenesis?

Jet streaks often occur away from jet streams.

State the mechanism for developing mid-latitude cyclonic and anticyclonic storms.

The name ____ is given to a large cyclonic storm system that forms in the middle latitudes.

Why does middle latitude storm development occur beneath troughs rather than ridges on a 500 mb chart?

The ___________________ is a semicontinuous global boundary separating cold polar air from warm subtropical air.

Sometimes, an upper-level pool of cold air that has broken away from the main flow lies almost directly above the surface low. Occasionally the upper low will break away entirely from the main flow, producing a ____.

The scientist ____ helped develop the polar front theory of a developing wave cyclone.

If the flow of air into a surface low pressure area is greater than the divergence of air aloft, the surface pressure in the center of the low will ____.

____________________ is the transfer of vorticity (the rate of horizontal spin of air parcels)by wind.

For a surface storm system to intensify, the upper-level low (or trough)should be located to the ____ of the surface low.

The piling up of air above a region is called ____.