What happens to water vapor in the air when prevailing winds hit a mountain?

What happens to water vapor in the air when prevailing winds hit a mountain?

Often, the sides of mountains that are hit by more wind have a lot more precipitation than the sides that are not. This is called the rain shadow effect. As the humid air moves up Mount Waialeale, the air cools, water vapor condenses into clouds, and rain falls.

What happens when a warm moist wind blows over a mountain range?

As the relatively warm, moist air rises over the windward side of the mountains, it cools and contracts. If the air is humid, it may form clouds and drop rain or snow. When the air sinks on the leeward side of the mountains, it forms a high pressure zone.

What affect causes one side of a mountain to be moist and full of vegetation and the other side to be dry and desert like *?

The air loses its capacity to hold water as it rises and cools while moving up the slopes, and it drops the extra moisture as rain. The air that makes it over the mountain is dry, so the other side (the leeward side) tends to have a desert-like climate.

When water Vapour Cannot be held in the air what happens to it?

Condensation happens one of two ways: Either the air is cooled to its dew point or it becomes so saturated with water vapor that it cannot hold any more water. Dew point is the temperature at which condensation happens.

What is the rainshadow effect?

A rain shadow is a patch of land that has been forced to become a desert because mountain ranges blocked all plant-growing, rainy weather. On one side of the mountain, wet weather systems drop rain and snow. On the other side of the mountain—the rain shadow side—all that precipitation is blocked.

What happens when air is forced to rise over a mountain?

Lifting Due To Topography When air is confronted by a mountain, it is forced up and over the mountain, cooling as it rises. If the air cools to its saturation point, the water vapor condenses and a cloud forms. Heating of the mountain slopes by the Sun also causes air to rise upward.

How does wind affect the movement of water vapor?

Investigative Phenomenon:One side of a mountain can get more rain than the other side Students learn: Lesson Overview •Wind and mountains affect the movement of water vapor in the atmosphere. •When the wind blows toward a mountain, the mountain can direct the wind upward, moving water vapor higher in the atmosphere.

Why do clouds form on the side of a mountain?

Some clouds, such as lenticular and stratus clouds, form when wind blows into the side of a mountain range or other terrain and is forced upward, higher in the atmosphere. The side of the mountains that the wind blows towards is called the windward side.

How are the mountains related to the wind?

The image on this page shows how winds can blow into a mountain range and then rise higher in the atmosphere. The side of the mountains where the wind starts is called the windward side. The side of the mountains where the wind leaves the area is called the leeward side.

What happens when wind blows over the ocean?

When wind blows over the ocean or other body of water, the air picks up water vapor as water evaporates from the surface of the body of water. Play the video clip to help you visualize what happens when water evaporates from the ocean into the atmosphere, a process measurable by satellite.