Weather and Climate

3. A region's average weather conditions over a long period of time
7. The largest and most destructive storms
10. Areas near the poles that are cold year-round
12. To understand Earth's wind patterns, you need to think about the ________ of air
14. When warm air rises, it gets lighter and ____________
16. This causes prevailing winds to curve east or west
18. The higher the latitude, the __________ the climate
19. These are created by the tilt of Earth as it revolves around the sun

1. Large streams of surface seawater
2. Tall walls of water formed by hurricanes
4. Many are located in warm areas yet have snow at the top
5. The short-term changes in the air for a given place and time
6. These produce strong winds and large amounts of snow
8. The place where two air masses of different temperatures or moisture content meet
9. Winds that blow in the same direction over large areas of Earth
11. This is a warm current that flows north along the U.S. East Coast
13. A dry area on the mountainside facing away from the direction of the wind
15. A small, rapidly twisting funnel of air that touches the ground
17. It is important to track these because there are so many in the U.S.
20. ____________ from the sun heats the planet