what type of air mass is gorgia in
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Climate of Georgia
Maritime tropical air masses dominate the climate in summer, but in other seasons continental polar air masses are not uncommon. The average January temperature in Atlanta is 42 °F (6 °C); in August it is 79 °F (26 °C). Farther south, January temperatures average 10 °F (6 °C) higher, but in August the difference is only about 3 °F (2 °C). In northern Georgia precipitation usually averages from 50 to 60 inches (1,270 to 1,524 mm) annually. The east-central areas are drier, with about 44 inches (1,118 mm). Precipitation is more evenly distributed throughout the seasons in northern Georgia, whereas the southern and coastal areas have more summer rains. Snow seldom occurs outside the mountainous northern counties.
Plant and animal life
Because of its mountains-to-the-sea topography, Georgia has a wide spectrum of natural vegetation. Trees range from maples, hemlocks, birches, and beech near Blairsville in the north to cypresses, tupelos, and red gums of the stream swamps below the fall line and to the marsh grasses of the coast and islands. Throughout most of the Appalachians, chestnuts, oaks, and yellow poplars are dominant.
Much of this area is designated as a national forest. The region that extends from the Tennessee border to the fall line has mostly oak and pine, with pines predominating in parts of the west. Below the fall line and outside the swamps, vast stands of pine—longleaf, loblolly, and slash—cover the landscape. The exploitation of these trees for pulpwood is a leading economic activity. Much of the land, which had at one time been cleared of trees for agriculture, has gone back to trees, scrub, and grasses.
Georgia’s wildlife is profuse. There are alligators in the south; bears, with a hunting season in counties near the mountains and the Okefenokee Swamp; deer, with restricted hunting in most counties; grouse; opossums; quail; rabbits; raccoons; squirrels; sea turtles, with no hunting allowed; and turkeys, with quite restricted hunting. In general, wildlife is in a period of transition.
There is an extensive stocking of game birds and fish. The major fish of southern Georgia, except snooks and bonefish, are in waters off the coast, and most major freshwater game fish of the United States are found in Georgia’s streams and lakes. Some 20 species of plants and more than 20 species of mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles are listed as endangered in the state.
People
Population composition
By the early 21st century Georgia was among the most populous states in the country. The population was mostly of European ancestry (white), about two-thirds, and African American, nearly one-third. A much smaller fraction of the state’s residents were of Asian, Hispanic, or Native American descent.
Much of the white population has deep roots in Georgia, but, compared with other states in the Deep South, such as Alabama and South Carolina, a higher percentage of the population was born outside the state. Religious affiliations are predominantly Protestant, with the Baptist and Methodist churches particularly strong within the African American community.
Settlement patterns
Georgia’s settlement patterns are marked by as much variety as its physical geography. The state’s indigenous population had already established a rich and complex village-based civilization by the time of European contact in the early 1500s. In the 1700s British settlement precipitated a cultural conflict with the Creek (Muskogee), which intensified as white settlers moved steadily westward in the latter part of that century and into the early 1800s.
One of the original English colonies and one of the first states in the union, Georgia emerged after the American Revolution as a plantation society that grew rice and cotton and depended heavily on a growing Black African slave population.
Economy
In the 20th century, Georgia continued to follow its Southern neighbors in shifting from an economy that relied heavily on agriculture to one that concentrated on manufacturing and service activities. Some four-fifths of the jobs in the state are in services, including government, finance and real estate, trade, construction, transportation, and public utilities.
Manufacturing accounts for many of the remaining jobs, with agriculture-related activities employing only a fraction of the workforce. In the late 20th century Georgia’s economic performance surpassed that of most other states in the Deep South, and by the early 21st century Georgia’s economy had become one of the strongest in the country.
Air Masses & Weather Fronts
Air Masses:
Definition: An air mass is a huge body of air that has similar characteristics, depending on where it forms:
- Temperature
- Humidity (Moisture Content)
- Air Pressure (Remember: cold air sinks & warm air rises. This is important when we talk about air masses & fronts moving)
Temperature: Affects Air Pressure
- Tropical – warm air masses form in the tropics (near the equator) with low air pressure
- Polar – cold air masses from north of 50° north latitude & south of 50° south latitude, with high pressure
Moisture Content:
- Maritime – form over oceans as water evaporates & the air becomes humid
- Continental – form over land so they are drier
For each area where the air masses are forming, write the 1st letter for each description (Ex: Forms over water is Maritime, Forms in a cold place is Polar, so the letters would be mP for the air mass “bubble”)
Maritime Tropical:
- Warm, humid air masses form over tropical oceans
- In summer, mT brings hot, humid weather, showers & thunderstorms (especially in GA)
- In winter, mT bring heavy rain or snow
Continental Tropical:
- Hot, dry air masses form mostly in summer over dry areas
- Cover a smaller area than other air masses
- In summer, CT brings hot, dry weather to the southern Great Plains
Maritime Polar:
- Cool, humid air masses form over the icy cold N. Pacific & N. Atlantic oceans
- Affect the West Coast more than East Coast
- In summer, mP bring fog, rain & cold temps to West Coast
Continental Polar:
- Large cP air masses form over central & northern Canada & Alaska
- Bring bitter cold with low humidity
- In winter, cP cold, clear, dry air to North America
- If cP collide with mT, storms may happen (thunderstorms & tornados)
How are air masses classified? By their temperature & moisture content (humidity) – see above for details
How do air masses that form over land & ocean affect the weather in GA?
- In GA, mT brings hot, humid weather, showers & thunderstorms
- If cP collide with mT, storms may happen (thunderstorms & tornados)
- cP bring cold temps
Prevailing Westerlies & Jet Streams (winds) move weather across the US
Maritime Tropical
The maritime tropical air mass is most often felt in the Southeast US. In the winter this air mass is shoved toward the equator but in summer it can cover much of the US east of the Rockies. This air mass results from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf Stream. The warm waters in this region evaporate an enormous volume of water.
Coldwater currents tend to stabilize the atmosphere and produce little evaporation while warm waters destabilize the atmosphere and add moisture. The warm waters warm the low levels of the atmosphere. Temperatures in this air mass warm to highs in the 80’s and 90’s in the summer and the 70’s and ’80s in winter. High dewpoints characterize mT air.
At all times of the year, dewpoints are greater than 50 ° F. The majority of US thunderstorm activity develops within the mT air mass, most being by way of scattered thermodynamic thunderstorms and thunderstorms out ahead of fronts.
As the maritime tropical air mass moves over land it begins to “pick up” characteristics of a continental climate. This is particularly true when the mT airmass moves toward the North. The mT air mass modifies due to lower sun angles, drier land below, and cooler land below.
Maritime Polar
The source region for mP air is over cold ocean currents or high latitude ocean waters. This air does not have the moisture content of mT air. Since mP air is always near saturation, orographic lifting of the air mass can produce widespread rain or snow. This air mass is notorious for producing fog, drizzle, cloudy weather, and long-lasting light to moderate rain.
The temperature of mP air ranges from just above freezing to below 70 ° F. mP air is modified as it moves over elevated terrain. On the windward side of mountain ranges, mP air can produce an abundance of rain and snow. Once on the lee side of mountains, the mP airmass modifies into a continental air mass. These air masses produce cold fronts but the air is not as cold as polar or arctic fronts. They are often termed “Pacific fronts” or “back-door cold fronts”.
Continental Polar
This airmass has low dewpoints, cold temperatures, and a high degree of stability. These dynamical uplift mechanisms include jet streaks, isentropic lifting, and positive differential vorticity advection. Cold surface temperatures and a dry boundary layer inhibit thermodynamic convection.
cP air modifies rapidly as it moves to the South. On some occasions, the subtropical jet will “overrun” the shallow cP air. After modification, cP air becomes modified cP air or modified mid-latitude continental air.
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