METEOROLOGY

(MET321)

L E C T U R E 6

A I R M A S S E S A N D F R O N T S

M I D - L AT I T U D E C Y C L O N I C S T O R M S

T H U N D E R S T O R M S
AGENDA
• Lecture 4 (any questions?)
Air Masses and Fronts
• Types of Air Masses
• Types of Fronts
Mid-Latitude Cyclonic Storms
• Formation
Thunderstorms
• Different types of TS
• Lightning & Thunder
 AIR
MASSES
AND
FRONTS
W H AT I S A N A I R M A S S ?
• Extremely large body of air whose properties of temperature and humidity are similar in any
horizontal direction at any given altitude
• Regions where air masses originate (form) are known as source regions
• Generally flat, uniform composition, light surface winds
• Longer air remain stagnant over source region (or longer path traveled) the more likely it will
acquire properties of the surface below
• Ideal source regions are usually dominate by surface high pressures, ice-or-snow covered plains
(arctic) in winter and subtropical oceans in summer
• Mid-latitudes are not good source regions (temperatures and moisture vary largely)
C L A S S I F I C AT I O N
• Classified according to their temperature (cold, warm) and humidity (dry, moist)
• Air masses grouped into five categories and based on their source region
• Location: Arctic (A), Polar (P), Tropical (T)
• Type: Land (c) - dry, Maritime (m) – moist
• Air mass may begin to move due to strengthening winds aloft
• Will move over surfaces that are colder or warmer (causing stability or instability)
C O N T I N E N TA L P O L A R / A R T I C
• Source region: ice-snow covered regions of Arctic, Northern Canada, Alaska
• Often hard to distinguish cA from cP
• Air is cold, stable, and dry. Formed due to strong radiation cooling
• Portion breaks away moving southward as cold, shallow high-pressure area
• Associated with frigid temperatures and primer for lake-effect snows
• Generally fair weather in the winter caused by stable atmosphere aloft (subsiding air)
• Topography acts like barriers – often shielding or warming cP/cA
• cP formed in summer months is different than cP of winter
• Air mass moving over large body of water, original properties can change drastically
C O N T I N E N TA L P O L A R / A R C T I C
 LAKE-EFFECT SNOW
• Snowstorms that form downwind of lake (Great Lakes)
known as Lake-Effect (Enhanced) Snows
• Highly localized (few km to 100 km) mostly occurring Nov
to Jan
• Greater temperature between air and water, greater the
snowfall
• Cold, dry air mass picks up moisture over the warm water,
further lifting downwind
• Warming from below causes instability
• Heavy snow tapers off moving inland
MARITIME POLAR
• Source region: artic or polar air that flows over an ocean picking up warmth and moisture
• West Coast: arctic air over Asia and polar regions flow eastward over Pacific ocean
• Hits mountain ranges, loses water vapor, flows inland as cool, stable air
• East of Rockies, Pacific air is cool, dry, stable (forms cP)
• East Coast: originates North Atlantic as cP and becomes modified
• Atlantic mP usually colder than Pacific mP
• Often effect Europe (due to upper winds) but can impact Atlantic regions
MARITIME POLAR
 MARITIME TROPICAL
• Source region: warmer
subtropical oceans
• very warm and moist (having
travelled over hundreds of km -
subtropical air )
• Serves as an atmospheric river
(ex: Pineapple Express) – lots of
water! (flooding)
• Usually unstable air;
thunderstorm activity, muggy air
C O N T I N E N TA L T R O P I C A L
• Source region: Northern Mexico, southwestern United States
• Hot, dry, conditionally unstable airmasses only form during the
summer
• Upper-level ridge causes stable air aloft and surface air even warmer
• Generally, sky clear, hot temperatures, no rainfall
• If becomes stagnant in the great plains, drought can occur
 SUMMARY

Air Mass Summary:

 FRONTS
• Airmass weather describes the prolonged
weather in the region due to air mass
characteristics - yet most of the weather action
occurs at the margins of air masses
• Front is a transition zone between two air
masses of different densities (temperature)
• The upward extension (slope) of a front is
referred to as frontal surface or frontal zone
• Four types of fronts: Warm, Cold, Stationary,
Occluded
S TAT I O N A R Y F R O N T S
• Has no movement
• Surface winds tend to blow parallel to the front (opposite
on either side)
• Can occur when mountain range separates air
• If opposing air is dry, no precipitation (generally clear)
• If warm moist air lifts, then cloud cover and precipitation
can occur
• If either mass retreats or advances, then it no longer is a
stationary front
 COLD FRONT

• Represents a zone of advancing cold air

• Criteria used to location on a surface weather chart:
• Sharp temperature change over a relatively short distance
• Changes in the air’s moisture content (dewpoint)
• Shifts in wind direction
• Pressure and density changes
• Clouds and precipitation patterns
• Isobar's ‘kink’ - trough of low pressure
• Usually precipitation occurs along the front, possibility of
strong thunderstorms on warm, moist, unstable days
 COLD FRONT
• Cold, dense air wedges under warm air
• Moist, conditionally unstable air rises, condenses into
a series of cumulonimbus clouds
• Cirrostratus (Cs) and Cirrus (Ci) clouds form well in
advance of the cold front
• Weather behind the front is dry, often clear
• Leading edge of the front is steep (friction)
• Ratio of frontal zone is 1:50 (speed dependent)
• Ns clouds occur if ascending warm air is stable
• Fast moving front, squall line develops – line of
thunderstorms
COLD FRONT – CROSS SECTION
COLD FRONT -
CHARACTERISTICS
 WA R M F R O N T
• The leading edge of advancing warm air (cold air receding)
• The average speed (10 kts) of the warm front is half of cold front
• Warm front passes, wind shifts, temperature rises, conditions improve
• Warm, less dense air overrides up & over cold, more-dense surface air
(overrunning)
• Gentler slope than cold front (1:150 to 1:300)
• Clouds and precipitation can indicate approaching warm front (winter)
• If overrunning air is dry, stable, only middle clouds form (no
precipitation)
• If moist, conditionally unstable – heavy showers, thunderstorms (elevated
storms)
WA R M F R O N T
WA R M F R O N T – C H A R A C T E R I S T I C S
 DRYLINES
• In southern Great Plains, warm, humid air may be separated from
warm, dry air
• Drastic change in dewpoint can occur across this front (dewpoint
front)
• Cu or Cb tend to form east of the
dryline (development caused by
daytime heating and sloping terrain)
• Warm, dry air over elevated western
plain may end up (by wind) over
warm, moist air – potentially unstable
OCCLUDED FRONTS
• Occurs when a cold front catches up and overtakes a warm front (occlusion)
• Trough of warm air aloft (TROWAL), refers to the location where the cold air lifts the warm air
above the surface
• Trowal would indicate intersection point of warm and cold fronts aloft
• Two types: cold occlusion (cold-type occluded front) and warm occlusion (warm-front occluded
front)
• Both types have similar characteristics (except for temperature)
• Main difference:
• Cold occlusion – upper-level warm front follows surface occluded front
• Warm occlusion – upper-level cold front precedes surface occluded front
OCCLUDED FRONT (COLD)
O C C L U D E D F R O N T ( WA R M )
OCCLUDED FRONT
F R O N T O - LY S I S / G E N E S I S

• If temperature contrast across a front lessens, the front will

often weak and dissipate – known as frontolysis
• If temperature contrast across a front increases, the front can
strengthen and regenerate into a more vigorous frontal system
– known as frontogenesis
 MID-
L AT I T U D E
CYCLONIC
STORMS
POLAR FRONT THEORY
• Simplistic explanation pertaining to formation of mid-latitude cyclones
• Form in conjunction with the polar front
• Similar to an ocean wave
• Strengthening of these storms systems are called cyclogenesis
Six Stages
1. Formation (stationary front) – two air masses clash
2. Wave Development (frontal wave) – wave cyclone takes form
3. Cyclonic Formation (open wave) – central pressure of wave much lower
4. Mature (initial occlusion) – Cbs develop (cold front), precipitation/clouds (warm front)
5. Occlusion (advanced) – cold air begins to lift warm air
6. Dissipation (cut-off) – pressure weakens, horizontal density differences ceases
POLAR-FRONT THEORY
TP1
CYCLONIC FLOW
T Y P I C A L M I D - L AT I T U D E C Y C L O N E S
TP1
FLOW ALOFT & CYCLONE FORM.
• Surface storms need upper-air support
• Cyclonic storms can intensify and deepen based on the following
• Confluence and difluence air
• Westerlies waves
• Temperature advection
• Jet stream (Polar)
• If lows and highs were situated above
one another, storms would not have
enough support to intensify
CONVERGING & DIVERGING
• For low to deepen or intensify; upper-level divergence of air must
be greater than surface convergence of air
• For high to build; upper-level convergence of air must exceed low-
level divergence of air
• An upper-level trough must be present – surface low is located to
the east (difluence), surface high to the west (confluence)
TP1
 W E S T E R L I E S WAV E S
• Upper flow above mid-latitudes usually consists of a series of
troughs and ridges
• Wavelength is distance from trough-trough (or ridge-ridge)
• When many thousand km, referred to as longwave (Rossby
waves)
• Shortwaves are small disturbances embedded within
longwave
• Deepen when close to trough, weaken when approaching
ridge
• Intensify surface low-and-high pressure areas
TP1
R O S S B Y WAV E S
T E M P E R AT U R E A D V E C T I O N
• Temperature advection occurs in places where winds cross the isotherms
• When colder air is replacing warmer air, called cold advection
• Makes air more-dense, deepening the trough (curvature increases)
• When warmer air is replacing colder air, called warm advection
• Strengthens the ridge
• Overall effect of differential temperature advection is to amplify the upper-level wave
• Sinking of cold air and rising of warm air provide energy to the storm
T E M P E R AT U R E A D V E C T I O N
• Temperature advection occurs in places where winds cross the isotherms
• When colder air is replacing warmer air, called cold advection
• Makes air more-dense, deepening the trough (curvature increases)
• When warmer air is replacing colder air, called warm advection
• Strengthens the ridge
• Overall effect of differential temperature advection is to amplify the upper-level wave
 JET STREAM
• When the jet stream is wavy, deep troughs and ridges exist
• Curving of the jet stream and changing winds around the jet core
(jet streak) produce regions of strong divergence and
convergence
• Polar jet stream removing air above the surface cyclonic storm
and supplying air to the surface anti-cyclone
TP1
 CYCLONE STORM SUMMARY
Intensity of cyclonic storm depend:
• Trough of low pressure aloft
• Shortwave
• Differential temperature advection
• Polar jet forms waves
 SUMMARY
Mid-Latitude Cyclonic Storms:
THUNDER-
STORMS
THUNDERSTORMS
• Convective storms that form with rising air
• Birth of a thunderstorm (TS) usually involves warm, moist air rising in a conditionally unstable
environment
• Thundersnow – thunder and lightening observed in wintertime snowstorms
Classifications:
• Ordinary Cell
• Multicell
• Squall-Line
• Supercell
ORDINARY CELL
• Form in regions with limited vertical wind shear, life is predictable
• Cumulus stage (growth) – large amount of latent heat released, continuously rise with constant
rising air below (becoming Tcu), no precipitation/lightening/thunder
• Drier air from cloud is being drawn into the air (entrainment), producing downdrafts
• Mature stage – marked by downdraft, anvil shape forms, quite tall vertically (40,000’), most
intense downdraft/updrafts, precipitation/lightening/thunder present
• Surface boundary that separates the advancing cooler air from surrounding warmer air is called a
gust front
• Dissipating stage – updrafts weaken, downdrafts “collapse” the storm, with light precipitation
falling, cloud dissipates (lower-half)
O R D I N A RY C E L L S TA G E S
S TA G E S O F D E V E L O P M E N T
M AT U R E S TA G E
D I S S I PAT I N G S TA G E
M U LT I C E L L
• Contains more than one cell in a different stage of development (complex)
• Form in a region of strong vertical wind shear; causing storm to tilt
• Updrafts flow up and over downdrafts; creating multiple cells
• Often Mammatus can be seen in the region of the storm with sinking air
• Strong vertical updrafts can cause an overshooting top (punches into Stratosphere)
• Shelf clouds can form as warm air lifts due to gust front (especially stable air)
• Roll clouds may form just behind the gust front
• Intense, localized downburst can form (very hazardeous)
• Microburst (winds extending less than 4 km)
• Macroburst (winds extending more than 4 km)
M U LT I C E L L
TP1
SHELF CLOUD
ROLL CLOUD
SQUALL-LINE THUNDERSTORMS
• Multicell thunderstorms can form along or ahead cold front (less predictable)
• Extend hundreds of km and strong downdrafts may appear to the rear
SQUALL-LINE THUNDERSTORMS
SQUALL-LINE THUNDERSTORMS
 SUPERCELL
• Very strong wind shear present causing the updraft to rotate
(tornado)
• An intense thunderstorm with a single violently rotating updraft is
called supercell
• Mesocyclone often accompanied by a wall cloud (humid-air drawn
in)
• Very long lasting; produce high winds and large hail (quite severe)
• Likely to occur with presence of a low-level jet (indicates strong
wind shear aloft)
TP1
WA L L C L O U D
TP1
 LIGHTNING AND THUNDER
• Lightning is discharge of
electricity which usually
occurs in mature
thunderstorms
• Discharge from cloud-
cloud, within the cloud
(majority), cloud-air, cloud-
ground (20%)
• Extreme heating causes air
to expand explosively
causing a sound wave
(thunder)
LIGHTNING
TYPES OF LIGHTNING
TYPES OF LIGHTNING

Forked

Bead

Ribbon Heat Sheet

 SUMMARY
Thunderstorms:
KEY TERMS
Air mass Cold front Open wave
Source regions Warm front Cold advection
Continental polar Dry line Warm advection
Continental arctic Overrunning Ordinary cell
Continental tropical Occluded front Microburst
Maritime polar Occlusion Multicell
Maritime tropical TROWAL Supercell
Lake-effect snow Polar front theory Squall-line thunderstorm
Front Wave cyclone Gust front
Stationary front Frontal wave Shelf cloud