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Cold Fronts vs Warm
Fronts
Who Wins?
Brian Blonder
What Are Fronts?
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Front: boundaries between masses
of air with different densities, usually
caused by temperature differences.
Fun Fact: weather fronts got their name from
Norwegian scientists after the First World War.
They thought that the weather fronts acted and
looked like military fronts.
Cold Front
A cold air mass overtakes a warm air mass.
This causes the air to become unstable.
Cumulus clouds and Cumulonimbus clouds
are the two main cloud types associated
with these fronts. Squall lines, which are a
line of heavy thunderstorms also occur.
The main types of precipitation caused by
cold fronts are heavy rain and hail. Snow can
occur too.
Cumulus
Cumulonimbus
Squall Line
Latin Lesson
Alto:
middle.
Cirrus:
lock of hair/wisp.
Cumulus:
heap.
Nimbus:
rain bringing.
Stratus:
layer.
Warm Fronts
A warm air mass rises over a cooler air
mass.
The type of clouds that are associated
with warm fronts are cirrus,
cirrocumulus, cirrostratus,
altocumulus, altostratus, stratus,
stratocumulus and nimbostratus
clouds.
Light-moderate continuous rain, snow,
sleet and freezing rain all can occur.
Cirrus
Cirrocumulus
Cirrostratus
Altocumulus
Altostratus
Stratus
Stratocumulus
Nimbostratus
Guess What?!
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The precipitation in a cold front
depends on the humidity level.
Cold fronts are usually easier to
locate than warm fronts due to the
high pressure around them.
There are two basic forms of clouds:
stratiform and cumuliform.
Bibliography
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Burroughs, William J., Crowder Bob, Robertson, Ted,
Vallier-Talbot, Eleanor and Whittaker, Richard. A Guide To
Weather. San Francisco: Fog City Press, 1996.
Nankin, Frances. Wonders Of Weather. New York:
Kidsbooks, inc, 2000.
Oklahoma Climatological Survey. Weather Fronts.
Oklahoma Climatological Survey, 1996. Web. 10 May 2011.
Palmer, Chad. Cold Fronts Not Always That Cold.
USAToday, 2011. Web. 10 May 2011.
Palmer, Chad. Warm Fronts Not As Nice As They Sound.
USAToday, 2011. Web. 10 May 2011.
University Of Illinois. Cold Front. WW2010, 2010. Web. 10
May 2011.