METEOROLOGY 1

Meteorology and
Oceanography
 
  Topic 1:
Structure of Depressions

- Air Mass and Fronts

 
LO2.1:
Explain the formation of an air mass;
LO2.2:
Describe the source-region characteristics of arctic, polar,
tropical and equatorial air-mass types

LO2.3:
Discuss the different fronts found in the weather map;

LO2.4:
Describe the warm and cold occlusions in
Northern
Hemisphere;
 
AIR MASS
AND
FRONTS
•Air Mass is an extremely large body of air
whose properties of temperature and moisture
content (humidity), at any given altitude, are
fairly similar in any horizontal direction.
•Can cover hundreds of thousands of square miles.
•There can be small variations
•Air masses can control the weather for a
relatively long time period, from a period of
days to months.
•Most weather occurs along the periphery of
these air masses at boundaries called
fronts.
 • AIR MASS AND FRONTS
•Two fundamental assertions about weather and
why there is weather:
•1. Differential heating of the surface of the
earth.
•2. Heating of the lower atmosphere by energy
transfer from the surface.
• 4 General Air Mass Classifications According to the
Source Region.
• 1. polar latitudes (P) - located poleward of 60
degrees north and south
• 2. tropical latitudes (T) - located within about 25
degrees of the equator
• 3. continental (c) - located over large land masses-
dry
• 4. marine (m) - located over the oceans-moist
 • Various Types of Air Masses
•cP = continental polar = cold, dry, stable
•cT = continental tropical = hot, dry, stable air aloft
unstable surface air
•mP = maritime polar = cool, moist, and unstable
•mT = maritime tropical = warm, moist, usually
unstable
FRONT
• BOUNDARY OF TWO DIFFERENT AIR
MASSES OF DIFFERENT PHYSICAL
CHARACTERISTICS.
• Front is the transition zone between air masses with
distinctly different properties.
• 1. The Differences in Density are most often caused
by temperature differences.
• 2. Separate air masses with different humidities as
well.
• 3. We identify fronts by the movement of this transition
zone and the properties that move over a
geographical location.
 • How to Identify a Front
•1. Sharp temperature changes over a relatively
short distance
•2. Change in moisture content
•3. Rapid shifts in wind direction
•4. Pressure changes
•5. Clouds and precipitation patterns
FRON
T
 COLD FRO
NT

WARM FRO
NT

STATIONARY FRO
NT

OCCLUDED FR
ONT
Weather Front Symbol

TROUG
H

SQUAL
L

DRY LIN
E
TROPICAL WA
Warm front is defined as the transition zone where
a warm air mass is replacing a cold air mass.
Warm fronts generally move from southwest to
northeast and the air behind a warm front is
warmer and more moist than the air ahead of it.
When a warm front passes through, the air
becomes noticeably warmer and more humid
than it was before.
• Warm fronts
• These are formed when warm air rises over
a mass of cold air.
• As the air lifts into regions of lower pressure,
it expands, cools and condenses the water
vapour as wide, flat sheets of cloud.
• Warm fronts are shown on synoptic
charts by a solid line with semicircles
pointing towards the colder air and in the
direction of movement.
• On coloured weather maps, a warm front is
drawn with a solid red line with red
semicircles.
Cold Front is the place where a cold air mass replaces a
warm air mass.
These different air masses do not mix because they have
different temperatures and densities. 
As the cold front develops, the warm air behind the
front is pushed up over the top of the cold air.  This
happens because the warm air is lighter than the cold
air. 
 50 mi 150
mi.
1 1
1 mi mi.
mi.

COLD WARM
FRONT FRONT
THUNDER RAI STEADY PRECIPITATION
TEMP DECREASI
SHOWERS TEMPERATU
N INCREASI
NG
SUDDEN RE PRESSU NGFALLIN
BA
R. RISEVEERIN RE WIN G
VEERIN
VIS
. G
IMPROVE VISIBILIT
D G POOR
D Cu,
Ac, YCLOUD Ci, Cs, As,
Warm fronts
These are formed when warm air rises over
a mass of cold air.
As the air lifts into regions of lower
pressure, it expands, cools and condenses
the water vapour as wide, flat sheets of
cloud.
Warm fronts are shown on synoptic
charts by a solid line with semicircles
pointing towards the colder air and in the
direction of movement.
On coloured weather maps, a warm front is
drawn with a solid red line with red
Cold fronts
These are usually associated with
depressions.
A cold front is the transition zone where a
cold air mass is replacing the warmer air
mass.
The cold air is following the warm air and
gradually moves underneath the warmer
air.
When the warm air is pushed upwards it will
rain heavily.
Often more rain will fall in the few minutes
the cold front passes than it will during the
whole passage of a warm front.
• As the cold front passes, the clouds
roll by and the air temperature is
cooler.
• Cold fronts are shown on synoptic
charts by a solid line with triangles
along the front pointing towards the
warmer air and in the direction of
movement.
• On coloured weather maps, a cold
front is drawn with a solid blue line
with blue triangles.
• Occluded Front

A warm air mass pushes into a colder air mass (the warm front), and then
another cold air mass pushes into the warm air mass (the cold front).
Because cold fronts move faster, the cold front is likely to overtake the warm
front. This is known as an occluded front.

Occluded Front
An occluded front occurs when a fast-moving cold front catches up with a slow-moving warm
front. As the occluded front approaches, warm front weather prevails, but is immediately
followed by cold front weather. A cold front occlusion occurs when a fast moving cold front is
colder than the air ahead of the slow moving warm front. When this occurs, the cold air replaces
the cool air and forces the warm front aloft into the atmosphere. Typically, the cold front
occlusion creates a mixture of weather found in both warm and cold fronts, providing the air is
relatively stable.
 Occluded fronts
These occur at the point where a cold front
takes over a warm front or the other way
around.
If a cold front undercuts a warm front it is
known as a cold occlusion and if the cold
front rises over the warm front it is called a
warm occlusion.
Occluded fronts bring changeable weather
conditions.
On a synoptic chart, occluded fronts are represented by
semicircles and triangles positioned next to each other.
The triangles are in blue and the semicircles are in red, or
both are purple (mixing both red and blue colours
together).
Occluded fronts

A stationary front (or quasi-stationary front) is a
weather front or transition zone between two air masses,
when neither air mass is advancing into the other at a
speed exceeding 5 knots (about 6 miles per hour or about
9 kilometers per hour) at the ground surface.
Stationary Front
When the forces of two air masses are relatively
equal, the boundary or front that separates them
remains stationary and influences the local
weather for days. This front is called a stationary
front. The weather associated with a stationary
front is typically a mixture that can be found in
both warm and cold fronts.
• The warm occlusion usually develops in the Northern Hemisphere when
conditions north and of ahead of the warm front are such that low pa
temperatures exist north of the warm front. ... The cold front then continues
as anWhat is a cold occlusion?

• A cold occlusion occurs when the air behind the occluded front is colder

than the air ahead of it. The cold occlusion acts in a similar way to
a cold front. The colder air behind the front undercuts and pushes up the air
ahead of it. The other type of occluded front is the warm occlusion.
• upper cold front above the warm front surface.
The warm occlusion usually develops in the Northern
Hemisphere when conditions north and of ahead of the
warm front are such that low pa temperatures exist north
of the warm front. ... The cold front then continues as
anWhat is a cold occlusion?
• Satellite images
• Satellite images can often be used to help meteorologists to
forecast the weather over the next 12, 24 and 36 hours. Satellites
will usually show the cloud patterns over an area. For example a
swirl of white cloud on an infrared satellite image often means that
a depression is moving in.
• The Satellite image below shows an anticyclone over the British
Isles with the centre over the North Sea and impacting the North of
Scotland the most.
• The limitations in using satellites for forecasting
• Range
• The models that are used by meteorologists to predict the
weather are accurate only up to 6 days. It is more difficult to
measure the weather beyond this as winds can change and
pressures hold steady for longer periods of time.
• Accuracy
• The weather forecasts struggle with accuracy - especially on
the local level. There are so many climatic and local variations
in weather conditions that can affect the accuracy of a forecast.
FIRST STAGE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF
A FRONTAL WAVE
A FULLY DEVELOPED FRONTAL
WAVE
FRONTAL WAVE NEARING OCCLUSION
AN OCCLUDED
FRONT
Module 14