Weather Tidbits: Cold vs Warm Front

This Weather Tidbits explores how a cold front and warm front differ from each other. A front is a transition zone between two air masses.  They’re divided into four types; cold, warm, stationary & occluded. A cold front is the transition zone of where cold & dry air replaces warm & moist air. They’re seen on a surface map with a solid blue line with triangles; indicating its direction of movement. The weather associated with cold fronts involves cumuliform clouds; which bring heavy precipitation of rain or snow & gusty winds but also thunderstorms during the front’s passage. Cold fronts move twice as fast as warm fronts.

A warm front is a transition zone where warm & humid air replaces cold & dry air. They’re shown on a surface map with a solid red line with semicircles; indicating its direction of movement. The weather associated with warm fronts involves stratiform clouds; which bring light to moderate precipitation before the front’s passage.