What does cT air mass mean?

What does cT air mass mean?

continental tropical
The air masses in and around North America include the continental arctic (cA), maritime polar (mP), maritime tropical (mT), continental tropical (cT), and continental polar (cP) air masses.

What are the characteristics of a cT air mass?

Continental Tropical (cT) Air Masses Characteristically hot and very dry. Very unstable, yet clear conditions predominate due to a lack of water vapor. Thunderstorms may occur when moisture advection occurs or when air is forced orographically.

What causes an air mass to have a high pressure?

High pressure areas are usually caused by air masses being cooled, either from below (for instance, the subtropical high pressure zones that form over relatively cool ocean waters to the west of Califormia, Africa, and South America), or from above as infrared cooling of winter air masses over land exceeds the warming …

Is cT air unstable?

cT — Continental tropical air usually only influences the US in summertime as warm, dry air is pumped up off of the Mexican Plateau. It is usually fairly stable and dry, and if it becomes stagnant over the midwest, results in a drought.

How would you describe an air mass?

An air mass is a large volume of air in the atmosphere that is mostly uniform in temperature and moisture. Air masses can extend thousands of kilometers in any direction, and can reach from ground level to the stratosphere—16 kilometers (10 miles) into the atmosphere.

What air masses affect New York?

Weather in New York is heavily influenced by two air masses: a warm, humid one from the southwest and a cold, dry one from the northwest.

What causes air masses?

An air mass forms whenever the atmosphere remains in contact with a large, relatively uniform land or sea surface for a time sufficiently long to acquire the temperature and moisture properties of that surface. The Earth’s major air masses originate in polar or subtropical latitudes.

How does air masses affect weather?

When winds move air masses, they carry their weather conditions (heat or cold, dry or moist) from the source region to a new region. When the air mass reaches a new region, it might clash with another air mass that has a different temperature and humidity. This can create a severe storm.

What is a CT air mass?

Continental tropical (cT) air masses are hot, dry, unstable at low levels and generally stable aloft (upper-level ridge) Continental tropical air masses originate in northern Mexico. They are characterized by clear skies and negligible rainfall.

What are the characteristics of air mass?

Air masses are relatively large bodies of air that are fairly horizontally uniform in characteristics. They have relatively uniform temperature and moisture content; the region separating two different air masses is called a front. Air masses form in “source regions” where there is little topography and relatively stagnant winds near the surface.

What is the definition of continental air mass?

Continental air mass, vast body of air that forms over the interior of a continent, excluding mountainous areas. See air mass.