C.F.P.

Shanahan
Meteorology
February 6, 2013
Word Count: 258
Wk19d2

Warm and Cold Fronts

Fronts are large masses of moving air, whether they are hot or cold. A warm air
front collides with a colder area of air, and then it rises above it (cold sinks, warm rises).
Usually when this happens, the air is pushed up by the angles cold front that it comes into
contact with more cold air. As it moves up along the angle, it begins to form clouds. At
lower levels, nimbus type clouds, i.e. rain clouds, begin to form.
Not all of the warm front turns into rain clouds though, it sometimes rises even
further. At heights of 6 kilometers to 12 kilometers ice crystals begin to form. These are
cirrus clouds; they tend to drift at about 12 kilometers. Signs of a warm front include the
couple days of rain or snow. After the warm front has passed, temperatures generally
rise.
Cold fronts and warm fronts, at first glance, seem opposites but equal. Cold air is,
by nature, denser than warm air. When the two temperature opposites collide, the cooler
one generally displaces the warmer one. The heavy cold air pushes underneath the warm
air at an angle, creating a steep gradient. The sudden upward movement cause by the
encroaching cold front, forces the warm air to cool quickly. Large cumulonimbus clouds
will form: thunderstorms are the progeny of these cloud types. Whereas in warm fronts,
it may rain for a few days, it is usually fairly subdued. The hall mark of the cold front is
large and violent thunder storms.