The continent’s air masses reflect different conditions of temperature and humidity; they include northern and southern components, subdivided into continental (dry) and maritime (moist) types. In the north are found the Arctic air mass, over Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago; the polar continental, over northern central Canada; the maritime polar Pacific, over the Gulf of Alaska and the northern Pacific shores; and the maritime polar Atlantic, off the Atlantic provinces of Canada and New England. The southern half of the continent is characterized by the subtropical maritime Pacific air mass, off the southwestern United States; the tropical continental mass, over the intermontane basins of the Cordilleras from Utah southward; and the maritime tropical, centred in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.

The polar continental, the maritime tropical, and the maritime polar Pacific are the most influential air masses. Polar continental air reflects the spread of a negative temperature anomaly over much of the continent. It is a dry, cool-to-cold mass of stable air forming under an immense dome of high pressure above the Canadian Shield, with winds blowing outward to sweep over Labrador and New England or southward across the Great Lakes and the Great Plains. At its maximum it extends from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago to the Gulf Coast. In winter it joins with the Arctic air mass over Greenland to make a formidable body of cold, heavy air that carries subzero weather as far south as the Ohio River valley and may overflow the Appalachians and penetrate into the Rockies. Exceptionally, it can produce killing frosts in the Central Valley of California, the Texas Gulf Coast, and central Florida. In the spring it shrinks northward before the swift advance of the maritime tropical air, which is drawn northward as the heart of the continent heats up. This air mass is warm, moist, and unstable and is responsible for many summer rains and severe weather events. The storm-generating maritime polar Pacific air mass is active from northern California to Alaska, especially in the winter, when its mild, wet air reflects the North Pacific temperature anomalies. When the tropical continental air mass moves to the north and east, it is responsible for extremely hot, droughtlike conditions in the Great Plains in the summer and for mild spells in the Great Lakes region in the fall; the latter period is called “Indian summer.”

Storm tracks

Where cyclones (low-pressure cells) develop persistently along the advancing air-mass edges, strong storm tracks occur. Pacific storm tracks thread the Strait of Georgia, Puget Sound, and the Inside Passage to Alaska. In summer they shift north of Prince Rupert; in the depth of winter they migrate southward to San Francisco. Moving up the Columbia and Fraser river valleys, these storms weaken as they pass through the Cordilleras, only to strengthen again on the lee side as they join with a stream of Pacific air that overtops the mountains. These storms then draw in air from the polar continental air mass on their advancing cold sectors and from moist tropical gulf air in their warm sectors. As the polar continental air mass begins to expand in September, a line of storms tracking from the Mackenzie River to James Bay develops, migrating progressively southward to reach a track from Texas to Ohio in January. As the tropical gulf air mass expands north, the successive tracks become activated again until, in August, the gulf air brings a swirl of storms to the Mackenzie. Most of these storm tracks begin in the western plains, converge on the Great Lakes–Ohio area, and then bunch together in the cyclonically active St. Lawrence–Hudson–Mohawk zone. The Atlantic Coastal Plain becomes a storm track in winter as tropical maritime air contests the advance of the continental air from the north.

Climatic regions

Differing continental climatic regions reflect the considerable amount of Arctic land, the great spread of temperate conditions, and the small but significant tropical area; dry climates also stand out in strong contrast to the prevailingly humid ones.