5.

4 Changeable Weather and Air masses

 Where does the world’s air go?
REVISION: Why is it hotter at the equator than at the poles?
Ferrel cell

Ferrel cell
UK’s Air Masses
UK’s Air Masses
 Where does the world’s air go?

circulation
cell
10 - 20 000
metres

Azores
(islands in
North
Atlantic) pole
 What is an air mass?
• An air mass is a large body
of air with similar
temperature and/or
humidity.

• Air masses form in stable

“source regions” such as in
the tropics or the poles.
 What is an air mass?
• Air masses may be warm
and dry or cold and damp.
• Air masses form in high
pressure regions where the
air may sit still for days.
While it sits, it becomes like
the surface below it.
How do air masses affect weather?
How do air masses create weather?
https://youtu.be/kvk-hBFnBTI
 FRONTS
A front is the leading edge of an air mass.

A warm air
mass is
arriving.

A cold air mass

is arriving.
What happens when a front passes over us?
Your turn – page 77

Complete questions:
1, 2, 3(a,b,f) & 5
 Answer to Page 77
1. a) The mid-latitudes are between 30° and 60° north and south of the Equator.
b) The UK has 5 different air masses all affecting the weather.

2. Air masses are huge blocks of air moving over Earth; it can be warm or cold, damp or dry, depending on where it
came from. As they move over Earth, they bring with them weather.

3. a) 2, 3 – they are coming from cold regions

b) 5. It is coming from the Sahara desert, a very hot and dry region.
f) Cold and damp. It is coming from the Arctic Ocean.

5. a) i. A warm air mass is arriving ii. A cold air mass is arriving

b)
Colder Warmer