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Maritime tropical air masses are sometimes referred to as trade air masses. Maritime tropical air masses that affect the United States originate in the Caribbean Sea, southern Gulf of Mexico, and tropical Atlantic east of Florida through the Bahamas. [6] Monsoon air masses are moist and unstable. Superior air masses are dry, and rarely reach ...
Air mass classifications are indicated by three letters: [3] [4] Fronts separate air masses of different types or origins, and are located along troughs of lower pressure. [5] The first letter describes its moisture properties, with c used for c ontinental air masses (dry) and; m used for m aritime air masses (moist).
A similar air mass rising on the other side of the equator forces those rising air masses to move poleward. The rising air creates a low pressure zone near the equator. As the air moves poleward, it cools, becomes denser, and descends at about the 30th parallel, creating a high-pressure area. The descended air then travels toward the equator ...
Strong, vertically shallow high-pressure systems moving from higher latitudes to lower latitudes in the northern hemisphere are associated with continental arctic air masses. [16] Once arctic air moves over an unfrozen ocean, the air mass modifies greatly over the warmer water and takes on the character of a maritime air mass, which reduces the ...
World map with the middle latitudes highlighted in red Extratropical cyclone formation areas. The middle latitudes, also called the mid-latitudes (sometimes spelled midlatitudes) or moderate latitudes, are spatial regions on either hemisphere of Earth, located between the Tropic of Cancer (latitude 23°26′09.7″) and the Arctic Circle (66°33′50.3″) in the northern hemisphere and ...
The polar front arises as a result of cold polar air meeting warm tropical air. It is a stationary front as the air masses are not moving against each other and stays stable. [ 2 ] Off the coast of eastern North America , especially in winter , there is a sharp temperature gradient between the snow-covered land and the warm offshore currents.
The term "United States," when used in the geographic sense, refers to the contiguous United States (sometimes referred to as the Lower 48, including the District of Columbia not as a state), Alaska, Hawaii, the five insular territories of Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and minor outlying possessions. [1]
A surface weather analysis for the United States on October 21, 2006. By that time, Tropical Storm Paul was active (Paul later became a hurricane). Surface weather analysis is a special type of weather map that provides a view of weather elements over a geographical area at a specified time based on information from ground-based weather stations.