Lake Breeze/Sea Breeze - A sea or lake breeze develops due to temperature differences between the surface of the sea and land. Because water temperatures over a large body of water are more constant than land temperatures, a density gradient develops when the land heats up during the afternoon, thereby inducing a cool breeze that blows from the sea over the land. The opposite of a sea breeze is a land breeze. This occurs during calm nights when the land cools and becomes colder than the sea surface temperatures. A land breeze blows from the land out to sea.

Anticyclone - Another word for a high pressure system. Anticyclones occur when air piles up aloft due to convergent upper level wind flow. This raises the pressure readings at the surface, thereby creating a surface high pressure system.

sounding - A sounding is the graphical output taken by a rawindsonde which is launched with a weather balloon to record various atmospheric variables in differing altitudes. Temperature, moisture, and wind speed/direction are most commonly measured when a sounding is taken. The data can be plotted on a diagram called a skew-t diagram which can give important details on the atmosphere such as how stable or unstable it is.

Gale - Taken from the beaufort wind scale which describes wind speeds based on the observed sea conditions that occur with them. The beaufort scale goes from 0 to 12, with gale force coming in at 8. Gale force winds range from 34 to 40 knots. At this speed, the wave heights can reach 18 to 25 feet.

Triple Point - On a weather map, this is the point of occlusion where the cold, warm, and occluded fronts of a low pressure system come together. It is also defined as the temperature that water can be in either a solid, liquid, or gas state. The triple point of water is 0.1C.

Lake Effect Snow - The driving force behind lake effect snow is arctic air moving over relatively warm lake water. When this occurs, moisture and warmth is transferred out of the lake and into the lower levels of the atmosphere. When the moistened air reaches the shore, the air rises, inducing bands of snow. Snowfall rates in heavier lake effect snow bands can be as high as 3-6 inches per hour, causing near white-out conditions.

Scintillation - The apparent twinkling of a star due to its light passing through regions of differing air densities in the atmosphere. This results in the light being refracted and scattered before it reaches the viewer.