Weather 101: Air masses

( NEWS10 ) – On this week ’ s Weather 101 we will discuss air masses, where they come from, what they are and how they affect our weather here in the northeasterly .
A few things about air masses, there are two independent divisions of air out masses and they are categorized by their moisture content .
Continental air masses, designated with the small letter “ c ” originate over continental landmasses, therefore, there is no moisture and they are considered to be very dry breeze masses.

Maritime atmosphere masses, designated with the lowercase “ molarity ” originate over the oceans and thus have a reasonably high moisture contentedness .
Each of these two divisions of air masses are then divided based on the temperature of the surface where they originate .
Arctic air masses, designated with the letter “ A ” are very cold, these types of air masses originate over the arctic and south-polar regions, think the North and South terminal .
Polar air masses, designated with the letter “ P ” aren ’ thymine AS cold as their north-polar counterpart, as they typically originate from higher latitudes in the northern and southern hemispheres both over country and over water .

Tropical tune masses, designated with the letter “ T ” are warm and hot, as they originate over lower latitudes, think tropics or desert, both over down or over sea .

so when we put these two divisions together we get :

Continental north-polar ( calcium ) : This detail air mass is sourced over the poles and therefore are very cold and dry, We will occasionally get this air mass in the winter months with a strong storm system and a big arctic high behind that. This would bring Arctic publicize with cheery skies for the northeast. This can sometimes lead to record-breaking cold in the Midwest and Northeast .

Continental arctic ( cP ) : This originates in the higher latitudes both in the north and south hemispheres, with it being continental this would have characteristics like to the Arctic air multitude but it wouldn ’ thymine be AS cold .

Maritime polar ( military police ) : sometimes the Continental diametric tune masses can move over the oceans, chiefly in the northeasterly and the northwest. This would pick up more characteristics of a nautical air bulk as it picks up moisture from the oceans. This would typically be associated with cold temperatures, cloudy conditions and sometimes frigid precipitation .

Continental tropical ( connecticut ) : typically continental tropical air masses form over the desert southwest in the United States and this is what you would associate with very hot and dry air. typically in the summer months, this could lead to record-breaking heat in the southwest and occasionally this air travel mass can move into the northeast depending on how strong it is which would bring a hot and dry air mass to the northeast .

Maritime tropical ( metric ton ) : sometimes, merely like the pivotal air masses, tropical air masses can move over the oceans. This would pick up maritime characteristics which would greatly increase the moisture within the air mass itself. This is typically what we see in the summer months as it moves up the east slide and into the northeastern. This is the character of breeze mass you think of in those hot steaming months in the center of summer with ardent temperatures and gamey humidity levels .

sometimes these air masses battle each other. What I mean is a blast of polar air out ( continental diametric ) will dive south out of Canada and meet up with a maritime tropical air travel mass. Where they meet storm systems will develop along that limit. In the winter months, this is when we can get our boastful winter storms in the in-between of the state, or even along the east coast. Think big winter storms or even blizzards.

In the summer months, the diametric air mass will still sometimes move south and meet with the affectionate humid air from the maritime tropical air mass. Where these meet, specially in the strong months it is a commodity probability we can get a cold front to develop. Along this boundary is where we can get dangerous weather to develop .
Do you have a weather question you ’ ve been dying to ask ? Send an electronic mail to Matt Mackie ( mmackie @ news10.com ) or Rob Lindenmuth ( rlindenmuth @ news10.com ) to get it answered in Weather 101 !

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