Air Masses A large body of air with

Air Masses A large body of air with similar -TEMPERATURE - HUMIDITY Temperature • Warm • Cold Humidity • Moist • Dry Mr. Fetch’s Earth Science Classroom

Air Masses’ Characteristics Source Regions Over warm area: the warm area makes the air above warm. Over water: water evaporates into the air above and makes it moist. Mr. Fetch’s Earth Science Classroom

Types of Air Masses DESCRIPTION CONDITION LOCATION FORMED 1. Maritime: (m) moist (marina/water) 2. Continental: (c) dry (continents/land) 3. Tropical: (T) warm (tropics) 4. Polar: (P) cold (poles) Mr. Fetch’s Earth Science Classroom

Types of Air Masses IF WE COMBINE A TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY CHARACTERISTIC WE CAN MAKE 4 DIFFERENT TYPES OF AIR MASSES. Maritime Tropical (m. T) Continental Tropical (m. P) Maritime Polar (m. P) Continental Polar (c. P) Mr. Fetch’s Earth Science Classroom

Types of Air Masses c. P Continental Polar m. P Maritime Polar Dry, cold air to central and eastern US. m. P Maritime Polar Moist, cold air to east areas of the Canada Moist, cold air to west coast of the US. m. T Maritime Tropical Moist, warm air to west coast of the Mexico. c. T Continental Tropical Dry, warm to Desert SW m. T Maritime Tropical Moist, warm air to south Mr. Fetch’s Earth Science Classroom east coast of the US.

Air Mass Modification Air masses move be prevailing winds. The winds cause the air masses to move over land water. m. P Maritime Polar Moist, cold air to west coast of the US. As the air masses move, they change. This is called air mass modification. The air masses becomes more like the area it is moving over… …. . And At the same time, the area the air mass is moving over becomes more like the mass. Mr. Fetch’s Earth Science Classroom