CHAPTER 15: FRONTS

PPL

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 OBJECTIVES
To outline the surface weather
and flying problems associated
with fronts and other parts of the
frontal depression.

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 •
INTRODUCTION
The boundary between two airmasses is called a frontal
surface
– where the frontal surface touching the ground is called a
front.
– The frontal surface is a transition zone which:
• May be hundreds of miles wide, or
• Only a few miles wide
• Since frontal surface divides two different air masses
– different temperatures exist on either side of the front.
– Cold air is denser than warm air
• a frontal surface slopes gently with the cold mass below the warm mass.
• Where movement of the front is slow or there is no
movement
– it is termed quasi-stationary.
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 STATIONARY FRONT

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 COLD FRONT

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 CHARACTERISTICS OF COLD FRONT
 Surface wind
 Wind veers in the Northern Hemisphere
 Temperature
 Arrival of cold air results into decrease in temp
 Moisture content
 Arrival of cold air realized by drop in dew point

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 CHARACTERISTICS OF COLD FRONT cont..
 Cloud and pptn (depend on warm air & speed of advancing front
 warm air moist & unstable, heap clouds & showery pptn
 Warm air stable & moist, layer clouds form & pptn of the form
intermittent or continous rain
 Frontal surface steep & cold front advancing rapidly, warm air lifted
vigorously heap clouds form regardless of whether warm air is
stable
 Visibility
 Improves with passage

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 WARM FRONT

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 FRONTAL DEPRESSION FORMATION
• A quasi stationary front
– separates the warm and cold airmasses.
– Surfaces of the these two airmasses are subject to
• the formation of waves, or ripples, along the surface.

• Where the winds are light

– The waves formed are stable and limited in effect.
• Where the winds are strong the waves are unstable.
– Because of the slope of the frontal surface and the oscillation caused
by the waves
• warm air bulges into the cold air.
– When the wave motion is unstable
• the amplitude of the wave is increased and a depression forms.

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 FRONTAL DEPRESSION FORMATION
cont..

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 FRONTAL DEPRESSION FORMATION cont..
• In this formative stage the depression deepens and grows in size.
– The formation of depressions depends upon the wave length of the
ripples along the frontal surface
• The depression is initially stationary or slow moving.
• As the depression develops the fronts begin to move with the
circulating winds:
– Warm air is displacing cold air becomes a warm front
– Cold air is displacing warm air becomes a cold front
• The region between the cold front and the warm front is termed
the warm sector
• The remainder of the air is termed the cold sector.

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 FRONTAL DEPRESSION FORMATION
cont..

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 OCCLUSION
• Cold fronts move faster than warm fronts
– narrowing of the warm sector occurs. The warm sector air is
continually being undercut by the cold sector cold front.
– Merging of the two fronts commences at the tip of the warm front.
• The warm sector air is undercut
– lifted clear of the surface
– undercutting extends along the line of the front
– eventually an occluded front is formed with the merging of the two
cold airmasses.

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 OCCLUSION cont..

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 OCCLUSION cont..

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 WARM OCCLUSION
• In a warm occlusion the cold air ahead of the warm sector
followed by less cold air
• The less cold air rises over the leading cold air.
– Most cloud and precipitation lie ahead of the occluded front –
100 to 200 nm in advance.
– The wind veers,
– pressure increases and
– a change in temperature will occur as the surface position of the
front passes.

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 WARM OCCLUSION cont..

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 COLD OCCLUSION
 Cold air in advance of the warm front is being replaced by
colder air.
 Some precipitation will reach the ground in advance of the front
 but the majority occurs behind the surface front.
 Wind, pressure and temperature change after the front has
passed.

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 COLD OCCLUSION cont..

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 IDEALISED FRONTALPATTERNs Warm Front
In Advance At the Passage In the Rear
Pressure Steady fall Fall arrested Little change or slow fall

Wind Backing and increasing Veer and decrease Steady direction

Temperature Steady or slow rise Rise Little change

Dewpoint Rise in precipitation Rise Steady
Relative Humidity Rise in precipitation May rise further if not Little change, may be
already saturated saturated
Cloud CI, CS, AS, NS in and ST fractus ST, SC may persist
succession perhaps some CI

ST fractus, CU fractus
below AS and NS
Weather Continuous rain or snow Precipitation eases or Dry or intermittent rain or
stops snow
Visibility Good except in Poor, often mist or fog Moderate or poor, mist or
23 99 Flying School-JOAOK precipitation fog may persist
 IDEALISED FRONTALPATTERNS cont.. Cold Front
In Advance At the Passage In the Rear
Pressure Fall Sudden rise Rise continues more slowly
Wind Backing and increasing Sudden veer, perhaps Backing after squall then steady or veer at
becoming squally squall further squalls
Temperature Steady, but fall in pre- Sudden fall Little change, variable in showers
frontal rain
Dewpoint Little change Sudden fall Little change
Relative Rise in pre-frontal Remains high in Rapid fall as precipitation ceases, variable
Humidity precipitation precipitation in showers
Cloud ST or SC, AC, AS then CB with ST fractus, CU Lifting rapidly, followed for short period by
CB fractus or very low NS AS, AC and later further CU, CB
Weather Some rain, perhaps Heavy rain or snow, Heavy rain or snow for usually short
thunder perhaps hail and period, sometimes more persistent. Then
thunder fine but later showers
Visibility Moderate or poor, Temporary deterioration Very good except later snow showers
perhaps fog followed by
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improvement