Cloud Coverage, Air Masses, and Weather Fronts: Independent Practice Assignment
Name: _____________________________________ Period: ___ Online Assignment #:________ Due: ___________
Purpose: To identify cloud coverage as one of the elements of weather and to understand how it is measured. Also
diagram and describe cold, warm, occluded, and stationary boundaries (weather fronts) between air masses.
Instructions: Use your notes taken in class to complete this worksheet and online assignment.
1. Looking at the cloud cover symbols, write down what each means
a.
___________________________________
b.
_____________________________________
c.
______________________________________
2. Match the type of satellite imagery with how it is measured. See box to the right 
a. ________ : Measures the heat energy from the clouds
b. ________: The sun light bounces off the clouds making them appear white in the image
c. ________: Measures the water vapor in the upper atmosphere
3. Match the cloud type with its description
1: Water Vapor
2: Infrared
3: Visible
1. Cirrus
2. Cumulus
3. Cirrostratus
4. Altostratus
5. Nimbostratus
6. Cumulonimbus
7. Stratus
a. _________White feathery, wispy, first sign of an approaching warm front
b. _________Sheet like, cover entire sky, sign a warm front is getting closer
c. _________Gray color and flat, develops horizontally, covers entire sky, no to light precipitation
d. _________ Puffy ,flat base, form when moist warm air bubbles vertically from Earth’s surface
e. _________Top shaped like an anvil, weather: hail, lightning, tornadoes, thunder, and heavy rain
f. _________Gray looking, dense sheet like layers, see sun through it
g. _________Dark, gray, continuous precipitation
4. Define air mass:
______________________________________________________________________________________________
5. What does the air mass symbol mP mean? ___________________________________________________________
6. Where would you find the symbol cT in the United States?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
7. What does the symbol cP mean? ____________________________________________________________________
8. What is a frontal zone/front?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
9. Match the description of each front to the type of front:
1. Cold front
2. Warm front
3. Occluded front
4. Stationary boundary
a. __________ Warm subtropical moist air mass replaces a slower moving cold, dry polar air mass
b. __________ Frontal zone where air masses are not moving against each other
c. __________ fast moving cold front overtakes a slower moving warm front
d. __________Cold dry stable air mass displaces moist unstable subtropical air mass
10. Match the symbol of each front with its type of front:
3.
1.
a.
b.
c.
d.
4.
2.
___________ Stationary Front
___________ Cold Front
___________ Warm Front
___________ Occluded Front
Using the map below answer the following questions:
11. Write what type of front each of the following are and the direction they are heading.
a. Type: _________________________________ Direction:_______________________________
b. Type: _________________________________ Direction:_______________________________
c. Type: _________________________________ Direction:_______________________________
d. Type: _________________________________ Direction:_______________________________
e. Type: _________________________________ Direction:_______________________________
f. Type: _________________________________ Direction:_______________________________
g. Type: _________________________________ Direction:_______________________________
c
b
a.
d
e
f
g
12. What type of cloud coverage do you see ahead of the warm front on letter e? _______________________________
13. What type of cloud coverage is over northern Utah? ____________________________________________________
14. Draw the three types of front (don’t forget to label)
COLD FRONT
WARM FRONT
OCCLUDED FRONT
15. What type of front has winds coming from the south to southeast, showers, and warmer temperatures prior to the
front arriving? ____________________________________________
16. What type of front has showers, cool temperatures, and atmospheric pressure decreasing steadily prior to the front
arriving? __________________?
17. What type of clouds would you see after a warm front has passed?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
18. How does the atmospheric pressure change as a cold front arrives and passes?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________