FRONTS AND FRONTAL DEPRESSIONS

Having discussed the differences in air mass types, we are now in a position to look at the
synoptic scale weather systems that affect us on a daily basis. These occur in the form of fronts
and frontal depressions, which are the (bad) weather makers, and are separated by the highs,
which relieve us with good weather.
First the fronts. At the boundary between two different air masses, there is a line of sharp
contrast in air quality. At least we refer to it as a line. In fact there will be an area of some
mixing, but this is so narrow in comparison to the hundreds of miles of the air mass that it may
as well be a line. This we call a front. Our most consistent local example of this is the polar
front, separating the polar easterlies from the westerlies.
In theory, if both air masses were either stationary or moving at the same speed, there would be a
more or less vertical boundary or front separating them. But in reality one air mass is generally
moving faster and overtakes another.
When a cold air mass overtakes a warmer air mass (a cold front) the colder air (being denser)
will find its way beneath the warmer air, forcing the warmer air aloft. When warm air overtakes
cold ( a warm front) the warm air slides up over the cold. We have called this frontal lifting.
Warm fronts are fairly gradually sloped, while cold fronts tend to be fairly abrupt.
Warm fronts are indicated on weather maps as lines with half circles pointing toward the colder
air, and cold fronts are indicated by lines with triangles pointing toward the warmer air.
Why are fronts sloped? We mustn't forget friction. The air at the surface is slowed by friction,
while the air aloft is free of this drag, only being slowed by the drag of the air below it. So the
farther we go aloft the faster the air is moving. Thus the vertical cross section shows the air at
the surface lagging behind the air aloft. The average slope of a warm front is about 1:200.
The rising warm air (which is probably full of moisture) is cooled adiabatically and condenses,
generating clouds and precipitation. At the high, leading edge of the front are high, wispy cirrus
clouds (the first indicators of the approach of the warm front). These may be over 500 miles
(1000 km) ahead of the surface front. As the front comes closer, the front also lowers, and so do
the clouds.
The high cirrus first begin to thicken until the whole sky is covered with a thin, high veil of Cs,
which then lowers to As, and on down to S. At some point precipitation will begin and then you
have Ns. The S and Ns clouds will be about 150 mi., or 300 km., ahead of the surface front.
Another visual clue to the approach of a warm front is the behavior of aircraft contrails.
Remember, they are actually skinny clouds of condensed water vapor from the jet engines. This
moisture will evaporate quickly in dry air, but will linger longer in air with high humidity (high
vapor pressure). So if contrails linger a long while, that is a good indication that the air aloft is
humid, and that air could not be that humid unless it was fairly warm.

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Note that this whole procession of cloud development and precipitation is dependent on
moisture, so a warm front that is leading a very dry air mass might pass unnoticed.
Warm fronts typically move rather slowly, which coupled with their gradual slope means that
they produce steady rain, drizzle, fog, showers, and clouds over a period of days. There are
combinations of unstable warm air that can produce warm fronts with Cb clouds, but this is not
typical. When this does occur, the cloud progression will be from Cc to Ac to Cu and Cb.
In the US northeast, a warm front is normally the leading edge of a parcel of air from the mP air
mass from the Gulf of Mexico area.
When cold air overtakes warmer air, the resulting cold front is also sloped, but is generally much
steeper than a warm front. Typically the slope of a cold front is about 1:100. Remembering that
the cold air is forcing its way under the warm air we can see that the tendency would be to form
a wedge that is the reverse of the warm front, but when friction slows the lower air we end up
with a profile that is quite steep and somewhat rounded.
Cold fronts typically move a good deal faster than warm fronts, and it is this combination of
speed and steepness of the frontal passage that accounts for its more intense nature. Cold fronts
are fast and vigorous. They produce essentially the same amount of lifting as a warm front, but
because it happens more abruptly, the precipitation is heavy and brief.
The approach of a cold front is seen on the horizon as a dark, towering band of Cb clouds. With
its approach and passage we feel a substantial and abrupt temperature drop, wind shift, and
usually a downpour. This is where violent weather such as squalls, tornadoes and microbursts
may occur.
After the passage of a cold front the weather will be dominated by subsiding, cold air, bringing
colder, clearer weather to the area. In the US northeast, the passage of a cold front generally
brings the return of the cP air mass.
When the air masses on both sides of a front are moving parallel to each other, the front itself
will not move. In this case we have a stationary front, which is indicated on a weather map as a
line with the half circles on one side and the triangles on the other side. If any overrunning
occurs, some cloud development and precipitation may occur, in much the same manner as a
warm front.
The final type of front is the occluded front. In this case, a cold front (remember they move
faster than warm fronts) overtakes a warm front. Now we have the cold air from behind
overtaking the warm air to the point where it meets the cold air in front of the warm. What
happens next depends on whether the cold air behind is more cold or less cold than the cold air
ahead.
Looking at figure 10-6 we can follow this process. First we have a typical frontal depression
with the warm front leading a parcel of warm air and meeting colder air ahead, followed be a
cold front at the leading edge of the following cold air mass. as the cold front catches up to the
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warm front, a point is reached where the cold front meets the cold air ahead, having completely
lifted the warm air off the ground. Now we have an occluded front aloft, and at the surface we
have a cold front meeting cold air.
If the cold air ahead is not as cold as the cold air behind, the cold front will push under the cold
air ahead. This is known as a cold-type occlusion, or simply a cold occlusion. This is the most
common type of occlusion east of the Rockies where the very cold cP air is overtaking the
slightly less cold air over the States.
If the cold air ahead is colder than the cool air behind, the cool air behind will be forced up and
over the cold air ahead. This known as a warm-type occlusion, or simply a warm occlusion, and
is more common west of the Rockies. Here the relatively mild mP air from the Pacific overtakes
the relatively colder air over the land.

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