Project Summary: QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED: 1. What occurs during a major El Nio event? How might this affect global wind and precipitation patterns? 2. What changes might you expect to see in the earth's general circulation if the earth's rotation were in the opposite direction? 3. Explain why large high and low pressure systems dont move from east-to-west across the continental United States. 4. When making a weather forecast, which kind of chart is more important: a surface chart or a 500 mb chart? Why? 5. List the four basic types of air masses. Give an example of where each type could originate and describe how each air mass could affect local weather conditions if it moved into your region.