The state wants you to know that:
     Uneven heating of the earth's surface produces weather systems.
    The cycling of water in and out of the atmosphere plays an important role in determining weather and climate.
    Ocean currents affect local and global weather conditions.
    A weather map can be used to predict temperature and precipitation for several days in a given area.

Weather occurs in the layer of earth directly above the earth's atmosphere (the TROPOSPHERE.)

There is always a mass of air around us.  AN AIR MASS

Convection causes the earth's surface to heat the air above it.  The air mass takes on the location's temperature and humidity.  A cold air mass forms over cold land areas.
A moist air mass forms where water can evaporate into the air.

Types of Air Masses
When a large amount of air sits over one location an air mass with certain characteristics forms.
    Polar
        Continental - forms over cold, dry land.  (During winter they form over
                              Canada.)(produce cold, dry weather)
        Maritime    - forms over cold polar oceans (produce cold, wet weather)

    Tropical
        Continental - forms over hot, dry land areas (causes hot dry weather)
        Maritime    - forms over a warm body of water.  (cause warm, humid weather
                             with rain and maybe thunderstorms)

    Equatorial - forms near the earth's equator (hot)

    Arctic - forms near the North Pole (cold)

FRONTS - the boundary where two air masses come together
Collisions of the air masses at these boundaries cause WEATHER CHANGES.

    Cold front - a cold air mass pushes away a warm, moist air mass.  These move
    quickly and produce wind and rain.  Thunderstorms are common.
    Warm front - a warm air mass creeps over a cold air mass.  Cloudy skies with rain
    or snow develop.
    Stationary fronts - two nonmoving air masses

    Occluded fronts - a warm front with a cold air mass ahead of it and behind it
 
 

Air has pressure.  Colder air exerts more presssure than warmer air.  (remember molecules move apart in warmer air)  Air pressure is measured with a barometer.  Barometer readings are shown on a map with lines called isobars.

Different pressure in different types of air masses cause movement of the air mass.  Do you remember "Science in Your Bathroom" ?  A shower curtain will blow in toward you because warm air in the shower is rising, so cooler air from outside rushes in.

So differences in air pressure can cause winds.
Temperature differences occur because the sun heats the earth's surface unevenly.
Temperature differences lead to pressure differences.

Think back again and remember the spinning cardboard.  You spun cardboard on a pencil point and tried to draw a straight line with a ruler.  You did not get a straight line, but  a curved line.  The earth's rotation causes wind to move in circular pattern because of the CORIOLIS EFFECT.

Water vapor enters the air when liquid evaporates. The water vapor is invisible, but when the air contains a lot of water vapor, particles condense to form droplets when air is cooled.  The amount of water vapor in the air is called humidity.
Warm air can hold much more water than cool air.

Clouds form by surface heating and convection. The sun heats an area of the ground, the ground heats the air above it, this air becomes less dense as molecules move farther apart, the warm air rises in a column, it begins to cool in the troposphere and condense to form a cloud.  When moisture falls from a cloud to the ground we have precipitation. (rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain, hail)

A METEOROLOGIST forecasts weather.

Check out this weather mini lesson:  https://www.angelfire.com/nj/PflommScience/temperature1.html