Weather worldwide is affected by large bodies of air called air masses. These air masses each contain the same temperature and level of humidity throughout. Air masses are classified by where they develop and are characterized as tropical, polar, maritime or continental, the WeatherOnline website reports.
The maritime tropical air mass develops over the Gulf of Mexico and the southern Atlantic Ocean, also called the "source region," according to the National Weather Service. The qualities of the area the mass covers determine the qualities of the air mass. This air mass is particularly humid because of the water from the warm ocean and Gulf evaporating into the air and collecting in the air mass, but it is stabilized by the cold water currents that cool its atmosphere, theweatherprediction.com explains.
The maritime tropical air mass keeps temperatures in Florida in the 80s and 90s in summer and in the 70s and 80s in winter. It can be pushed south by large continental polar and maritime polar air masses from the north and is affected by the reduced sunlight in winter. The maritime tropical air mass is the cause of Florida's short, but widespread thunderstorms and sudden, heavy rains. When the air mass moves north over land, its temperature and moisture levels drop, meaning less humidity for the northern parts of the state, the National Weather Service reports.
There's a theory that the world's weather is negatively affected by the warming of the earth's surface by excess greenhouse gases emitted by man, according to theweatherprediction.com. Under this theory, the rising temperatures of the ocean and earth's surface are causing air masses to become more unstable, and the jet streams to shift, causing the air mass affecting Florida to move northward, carrying more heat and moisture with it, the World Climate Report states.
