Practical Exercises in Elementary MeteorologyWard, Robert DeCourcy
Science
Practical Exercises in Elementary Meteorology
Ward, Robert DeCourcy
Meteorology
Prepare a piece of tracing paper by drawing an N. and S. line upon it, and
placing a dot at the center of the line. Lay the paper over an area of low
pressure on any weather map, centering and orienting it properly, as in
the previous exercises. Trace off the isotherms which are near the center
of low pressure. Repeat this process with several maps, selecting
different ones from those used in the first part of this exercise.
Formulate a rule for the observed distribution of temperature, and
determine the reasons for this distribution. Note carefully any effects of
the cyclone upon the temperature gradient.
_B._ =Anticyclones.=——The correlation of anticyclones with their
temperatures is studied in precisely the same way as the preceding
correlation. Both methods suggested in the case of cyclones should be used
in the case of anticyclones. When your results have been obtained,
formulate a general rule for the observed distribution of temperature in
anticyclones, and determine the reasons for this distribution.
Find from your composites the average temperature of cyclones and of
anticyclones, and compare these averages.
=The unsymmetrical distribution of temperature around cyclones=, which is
made clear by the foregoing exercises, is very characteristic of these
storms in our latitudes, and especially in the eastern United States.
That this has an important effect upon weather changes is evident, and
will be further noted in the chapter on _Weather Forecasting_. The
cyclones which begin over the oceans near the equator at certain seasons,
and thence travel to higher latitudes,——_tropical cyclones_, so
called,——differ markedly from our cyclones in respect to the distribution
of temperature around them. The temperatures on all sides of tropical
cyclones are usually remarkably uniform, the isotherms coinciding fairly
closely with the isobars. The reason for this is to be found in the
remarkable uniformity of the temperature and humidity conditions over the
surrounding ocean surface, from which the inflowing winds come. In the
case of our own cyclones, in the eastern United States, the warm southerly
wind, or sirocco, in front of the center has very different
characteristics from those of the cold northwesterly wind, or _cold wave_,
in the rear, as has become evident through the preceding exercise. These
winds, therefore, naturally show their effects in the distribution of the
temperatures in different parts of the cyclonic area.
CHAPTER XV.
CORRELATION OF THE DIRECTION OF THE WIND AND THE
WEATHER.
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