Earth Science · Atmosphere · Weather / Principles and Exploration
Weather fronts — principles and investigation
The weather before and after a front passes from an observation point changes in chronological order. Compare changes in temperature, pressure, wind, and precipitation by adjusting the type of front, moving speed, and observation location. A front passage experiment that links the spatial distribution on a map with the time history of a single point.
How does it work?
Observation points experience different perspectives of the same front. Precipitation width and movement speed together change the precipitation duration.
ΔT0 after cold passage
Try this investigation
- Select the type of front, movement speed, and observation point and execute. You can also preview the scenes before and after the passage with the time slider.
- Run and record cold and warm fronts at the same speed of 40 km/h. Compare the temperature and precipitation period before and after the passage.
- Change the cold front's moving speed to 80 km/h and move the observation point to 120 km. Compare the precipitation duration and arrival time.
Interpreting your results
What are the typical precipitation and temperature changes of a warm front?
A cold front is expressed by a steep slope, cumulonimbus clouds, short precipitation, and a drop in temperature after passing, while a warm front is expressed by a gentle slope, nimbostratus clouds, extensive precipitation before passing, and a rise in temperature.
Assumptions and limitations
These are the virtual temperature, pressure, precipitation, and wind direction that created a typical scenario. We only cover uniform speed fronts and example winds in the Northern Hemisphere. It is not an actual forecast because it omits the actual terrain, season, water vapor amount, and low pressure structure.