Cold Fronts and Warm Fronts
Cold fronts occur when a colder air mass replaces a warmer one. At a cold front, the cold air is behind the warm air. Because the cold air is denser, it pushes the warm air out of its way, forcing the warm air to rise into the atmosphere.
* The slope of a typical cold front is 1:100 (vertical to horizontal). They would affect smaller area than a warm front.
* Cold fronts tend to move faster than all other types of fronts. Cold fronts can move at up to 20mph faster than a warm front. They can move between 15 to 50 kilometers per hour
* Cold fronts generally move from northwest to southeast.
* Cold fronts tend to be associated with the most violent weather among all types of fronts e.g. heavy rain, snow, hail, tornadoes
* Cold fronts tend to move the farthest while maintaining their intensity.
* A Cold front tends to cause the formation of cumulus, cumulonimbus, cirrus clouds
* Cold fronts also bring abrupt temperature changes. As a cold front advances, temperatures can drop more than 8°C (15°F) within a couple of hours and sharp change in wind direction (speed averages 15-25 knots).
* Humidity decrease, the pressure rises.
A warm front is the leading edge of an air mass warmer than the air it is replacing. As the air mass pushes forward, the warm air slides up over the wedge of cold air ahead of it.
* This type of front moves more slowly than a cold front, they move about 10 kilometers per hour in a northeast direction.
* Warm fronts generally move from southwest to northeast, brings about clear skies that follow.
* They also have gentle slopes and are linked with less severe weather e.g. thunderstorm, light to moderate continuous rain, snow, and fog.
* The slope of a typical warm front is 1:200 (gentler than cold fronts).
* The types of clouds associated with warm fronts are cirrostratus, altostratus, and nimbostratus clouds.
* The wind velocity usually increases in
* The slope of a typical cold front is 1:100 (vertical to horizontal). They would affect smaller area than a warm front.
* Cold fronts tend to move faster than all other types of fronts. Cold fronts can move at up to 20mph faster than a warm front. They can move between 15 to 50 kilometers per hour
* Cold fronts generally move from northwest to southeast.
* Cold fronts tend to be associated with the most violent weather among all types of fronts e.g. heavy rain, snow, hail, tornadoes
* Cold fronts tend to move the farthest while maintaining their intensity.
* A Cold front tends to cause the formation of cumulus, cumulonimbus, cirrus clouds
* Cold fronts also bring abrupt temperature changes. As a cold front advances, temperatures can drop more than 8°C (15°F) within a couple of hours and sharp change in wind direction (speed averages 15-25 knots).
* Humidity decrease, the pressure rises.
A warm front is the leading edge of an air mass warmer than the air it is replacing. As the air mass pushes forward, the warm air slides up over the wedge of cold air ahead of it.
* This type of front moves more slowly than a cold front, they move about 10 kilometers per hour in a northeast direction.
* Warm fronts generally move from southwest to northeast, brings about clear skies that follow.
* They also have gentle slopes and are linked with less severe weather e.g. thunderstorm, light to moderate continuous rain, snow, and fog.
* The slope of a typical warm front is 1:200 (gentler than cold fronts).
* The types of clouds associated with warm fronts are cirrostratus, altostratus, and nimbostratus clouds.
* The wind velocity usually increases in
References: * Waugh, David. Geography An integrated Approach. United Kingdom: Nelson Thornes. 2000 Teachers ' Domain: © 2002-2010 * http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/mck05.sci.ess.watcyc.fronts/ © ESPERE-ENC 2003 - 2010 * http://www.atmosphere.mpg.de/enid/3sg.html