Meteorology B

[ncha13]

for meterology is it a hard event or is it easy because all of these graphs look compplicated so just wanting to kno so thanks for whoever awnsers my question

[zyzzyva980]

It's easy if you are well prepared. Having a father who's a meteorologist, well, that helps. The graphs aren't too complicated if you know what to look for- more than anything use common sense when answering, in this and any event.

[brobo]

This isnt just for meteorology, but for any event, please dont ask whether the event is hard or not. It depends on state, test, and whether or not you are good or not in that particular area of science. Some people just dont do good with meteorology. And, its just a matter of opinion.

[zyzzyva980]

This isnt just for meteorology, but for any event, please dont ask whether the event is hard or not. It depends on state, test, and whether or not you are good or not in that particular area of science. Some people just dont do good with meteorology. And, its just a matter of opinion.

Thank goodness someone said this. An event is what it is... if it's hard, there's nothing you can do about it. Some people may find it easy. You have to find the events you excel in. That's what practice tournaments are for.

[andrewwski]

The "easy" and "hard" labels just don't apply in SO. It's a competition, so you're not trying to achieve a certain score against a perfect score - you're trying to do better than everyone else. An event could be "easy" in that it has an easy test - but it will be easy for everyone, thus you'll have to be exceptional to beat the rest. Or it may be a very difficult event, but it's then going to have the same effect on every team - those who do better win, those who do worse place worse.

It doesn't matter if it's the easiest or hardest content to understand - it depends on how you stack up against everyone else.

[brobo]

Very well put.
Now, back to Meteorology...

[freakofnature17]

I have a question about cold air/ warm air holding moisture and about satellite images.

Everyone knows the "debate" about how warm air does not hold moisture better than cold air but infact that in warm air, the water molecules gain more energy and are then able to enter the vaporization phase faster. So basically moisture has nothing to do with the air's ability to do anything but rather the temperature and other conditions found in the atmosphere. I understand all that but I'm wondering about whether cold air has the ability to hold moisture. I know my question seems pretty obvious and you're thinking "Well duh, it doesn't, and you just explained that with the "debate" thing above." Well my question kind of sprouted when I was looking at 3 sattllite images of the same area. One was a visible, one a infrared, and one was a water vapor satellite image. The 3 images basically showed a storm in that area but it also showed that there was cold air and a lot of water vapor in the air which got me thinking, " Is that possible?" I did some research and i just wanted to know what y'all had to say about that.

Basically what I'm wondering is that despite warm air holding more water vapor than cold because of atmospheric conditions and not because of air's magical ability to hold stuff, are there any exceptions to the relationship between cold air and water vapor/moisture? Thanks in advance.

[robotman]

hmmm
thats a very interesting question it acually got me thinking
like any rule there are exceptions.
The two main air mass types are Warm and cold, but within these two categories there is a wide range of temperatures and because of this range of temperatures each individual air mass will have a different moisture content. The relationship between the moisture contents is mainly derived from where the air mass originates. A warm air mass generally originates over water therefore giving it a higher moisture content while a cold air mass generally originates over the dry polar regions.
But yes there are exceptions to the generalization.

Now an explanation of airs ability to hold moisture
I suggest you think before reading what i have hidden it is confusing. but hopefully may help

Explaination (Click to Show Hidden Text)

Technically the Air has little to do with moisture content.
When moist air cools clouds form.
but they are not forming because the cooling air is losing its ability to remain saturated. the air is just a mixture of gases and has no real holding capacity for the water vapor.
why is this happening.
well it is because water molecules are always changing between phases and the majority or the changes is what we classify as condensation evaporation etc.
more molecules are leaving a liquid surface than arriving  net evaporation is taking place
more arrive than leave  net condensation is taking place 
It is these  flows of molecules which determine whether a cloud forms or evaporates, not the imaginary holding capacity that nitrogen or oxygen have for water vapor. 


The temperature of a cloud droplet or ice crystal will be (nearly) the same as that of the air, 
if the (other gases of the) air were removed and nothing else changed  condensation and evaporation would continue uninterrupted
 [url=http://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/Bad/BadFAQ/BadCloudsFAQ.html]Information from here[/url]
and because i have a feeling most of you wont trust one source about this [url=http://www.atmos.umd.edu/~stevenb/vapor/index.html]Here is another[/url]

[brobo]

I thought I understood this, until you tried to explain it. Not that your explaination wasn't good, just its WAY above my thinking level. Can you try to explain it to someone like me, please? It seems pretty complicated...

[robotman]

i was trying to say that the molecules of air (nitrogen oxygen etc) have no real "holding power" over the water vapor and since the water vapor is surrounded by the air it will have a temperature close to that of the air mass. So when the air mass is cooling or warming so is the water vapor therefore when you see clouds forming its not because the air has lost its ability to stay "saturated" rather the air temperature has changed so that the water vapor condenses into clouds.


Does that help?