WEATHER

SYSTEMS
6/14/16

C M E T,

WEATHER SYSTEM
Air Massis 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
Source Regionsare simply geographic areas
where an air mass originates. Should be:
uniform surface composition - flat
light surface winds
The longer the air mass stays over its source
region, the more likely it will acquire the
properties of the surface below. C M E T,

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WEATHER SYSTEM
Classification:
4 general air mass classifications categorized
according to the source region.
polar latitudesP- located poleward of 60 degrees
north and south
tropical latitudesT- located within about 25
degrees of the equator
continentalc- located over large land masses-dry
marinem- located over the oceans----moist
C M E T,

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WEATHER SYSTEM

We can then make combinations of the above to

describe various types of air masses.
cPcontinental polar: cold, dry, stable
cTcontinental tropical: hot,
dry, stable air aloft--unstable
surface air
mPmaritime polar: cool, moist
and unstable
mTmaritime tropical: warm,
moist, usually unstable

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C M E T,

WEATHER
SYSTEM
Type of weather different air masses
produce
cP:
This air mass produces weather that is
cold in winter, cool in summer, with low
humidity throughout the year.Cumulustype clouds are present; yet there are
often clear skies.Visibility is generally
quite good.
mP:
This air mass produces cool weather in
summer, cold in winter, with C
low
humidity
M E T,
throughout
6/14/16 the year.The air mass is often

WEATHER
SYSTEM
Type of weather different air masses
produce
mP:
There is also good visibility.It is cold and
moist in the winter, often producing
layered cloudiness along with sleet or
freezing rain, fog, and very cool
temperatures, especially during the
summer months.Visibility is generally
poor.
mT:
This air mass produces very warm
weather
C M E T,
in 6/14/16
summer, mild in winter, with high

WEATHER
SYSTEM
Type of weather different air masses
produce
mT:
then hazy sun into the afternoon as clouds
develop.Some of these cumulus clouds
may build into cumulonimbus clouds,
commonly known as thunderheads.
cT:
This air mass produces warm and dry
desert conditions, with good visibility.It
has broad temperature ranges between
night and day and generally cloudless
C M E T,
skies.
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WEATHER SYSTEM

Air masses can move both horizontally and

vertically! When air masses move, we can
have some drastic changes in weather.
Air masses move horizontally from their
source regions, bringing their characteristic
weather with them.Polar air masses
generally move south; tropical air masses
move northward and eastward.Most air
masses are modified as they encounter
different land surface characteristics.The
degree of modification will depend on the
speed at which the air mass travels
C M E as
T, well
as 6/14/16
the nature of the surface over which the

WEATHER SYSTEM
FRONTAL ZONES

The frontal zone separate adjacent region of

earth where different air masses predominate.
Aweather frontis a boundary separating
twomasses of airof different densities, and is
the principal cause ofmeteorological
phenomena. In surface
weather analyses, fronts
are depicted using various
coloured triangles and
half-circles, depending on
the type of front.
The air masses separated by a front usually
C M E T,
differ intemperatureandhumidity.

6/14/16

WEATHER
FRONTAL
ZONES
SYSTEM
Cold frontsmay feature narrow bands
ofthunderstormsandsevere weather, and may
on occasion be preceded bysquall linesordry
lines.
Warm frontsare usually preceded
bystratiformprecipitationandfog. The weather
usually clears quickly after a
front's passage. Some
fronts produce no
precipitation and little
cloudiness, although there
is invariably awind shift.

6/14/16

C M E T,

WEATHER
FRONTAL
ZONES
SYSTEM
Cold fronts and occluded fronts generally move
from
west to east, while warm fronts movepoleward.
Because of the greater density of air in their
wake, cold fronts and cold occlusions move
faster than warm fronts and warm occlusions.
Mountains and warm bodies of water can slow
the movement of fronts.When
a front becomesstationary, and
the density contrast across the
frontal boundary vanishes, the
front can degenerate into a line
which separates regions of
C M E T,
6/14/16
differing
wind velocity, known

WEATHER
FRONTAL
ZONES
SYSTEM

Cold front
A cold front is located at the leading edge of the
temperature drop off, Cold fronts often bring
heavy thunderstorms, rain and hail. Cold fronts
can produce sharper changes in weather and
move up to twice as quickly as warm fronts,
since cold air is denser than warm air and
rapidly replaces the
warm air preceding
the boundary.
Cold fronts come in
association with a
low-pressure area.
C M E T,

6/14/16

WEATHER
FRONTAL
ZONES
SYSTEM

Cold front
The concept of colder, dense air "wedging"
under the less dense warmer air is often used to
depict how air is lifted along a frontal boundary.
The cold air wedging underneath warmer air
creates the strongest winds just above the
ground surface, a phenomenon often associated
with property-damaging wind gusts. This lift
would then form a narrow line ofshowersand
thunderstormsif enoughmoisturewere present.
However, this concept isn't an accurate
description of the physical processes;upward
motion is not produced because C
of M
warm
E T,air
6/14/16
"ramping
up" cold, dense air,

WEATHER
FRONTAL
ZONES
SYSTEM

Warm front
Warm fronts are at the leading
edge of a homogeneous warm
air mass, which is located on
the equatorward edge of the
gradient in isotherms, and lie
within broader troughs of low
pressure than cold fronts. A warm front moves
more slowly than the cold front which usually
follows because cold air is denser and harder to
remove from the Earth's surface.This also forces
temperature differences across warm fronts to
be broader in scale. Clouds ahead
warm
C of
Mthe
E T,
6/14/16
front
are mostlystratiform, and rainfall gradually

WEATHER
FRONTAL
ZONES
SYSTEM

Warm front
Fogcan also occur preceding
a warm frontal passage.
Clearing and warming is
usually rapid after frontal
passage. If the warm air mass
is unstable, thunderstorms
may be embedded among the stratiform clouds
ahead of the front, and after frontal passage
thundershowers may continue.

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C M E T,

WEATHER SYSTEM
Depression

A depression, as its name implies, is a region of

low barometric pressure and appears on the
synoptic chart as a set of closed curved isobars
with winds circulating anticlockwise in the
northern hemisphere, clockwise in the southern
hemisphere. The warm and cold fronts associated
with depressions bring with them
characteristically unsettled weather. Depressions
vary from between 200 and 2,000 miles in
diameter; they may be deep when pressure at
their centre is very low and the isobars are tightly
packed, or shallow when less well developed.
A depression develops like the propagation
C M E T, of a

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WEATHER SYSTEM
Depression

A wave-shaped distortion may appear on the

front, and a small low pressure centre develops at
the crest of the wave. In the immediately
surrounding area the pressure begins to fall. A
disturbance of this kind is called a wave
depression. As the "wave" develops, a warm
sector of air forms, bounded by the warm and cold
fronts, which begins to tie over the engulfing cold
air. Both the warm and cold fronts originate from
the centre of the depression. On the ground,
sudden changes in the wind direction may be
experienced when fronts pass by.

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C M E T,

WEATHER
FRONTAL ZONES
SYSTEM
Frontal Depressions
In the four diagrams
the warm and cold air
start off both flowing
west to east (left to
right) with no break in
their equilibrium. By
diagram 3 this is starting to break down and by
the diagram 4 a fully formed Frontal Depression
has developed, with cold and warm fronts. It is
the difference in temperature and density that
causes the warm air to try and move up over the
cold air. This is the trigger to theCpossible
M E T,
6/14/16 of a Frontal Depression, along with
development

WEATHER
FRONTAL ZONES
SYSTEM
Frontal Depressions
Wind changes
Looking at the diagram
it can be seen that the
isobars kink at each front,
this means that the wind
direction also changes. In
general, the wind
BACKSahead of a front
and
VEERSbehind a front.

6/14/16

C M E T,

WEATHER
FRONTAL ZONES
SYSTEM
The next diagram
combines the
Weather
pattern for
warm and
cold front.

6/14/16

C M E T,

WEATHER
FRONTAL ZONES
SYSTEM

By the time the front is about 200 miles

away, the wind is often quite strong,
probably having backed to south or even
south easterly, rain begins to fall and St
clouds form, partly as a result of the
rain(If the temperature is low enough then
snow may fall). Due to the loss of heating
and the rain falling the temperature may
also fall. Another change which can be
noted is that theDEWPOINThas begun
to rise quite markedly. Also there is a
C M E T,
noticeable
drop
in
theVISIBILITY.
As the
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WEATHER
FRONTAL ZONES
SYSTEM

After a period of rather heavier rain ahead

of the front, it usually changes to drizzle;
there is a marked rise in both temperature
and dewpoint; the pressure eases off or
stops falling and the windVEERSmore to
the south or even south west and may
decrease.
In theWARM SECTOR
the air mass hasTROPICALair
characteristics. Unless the centre of the
low is quite near, and/or you are near an
C Mbreaks
E T,
exposed
coast,
then
good
cloud
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WEATHER
FRONTAL ZONES
SYSTEM

As theCOLD FRONTapproaches so the

upper cloud thickens, in much the same
sequence as ahead of the warm front, but
over a much shorter distance and
therefore time scale. The
windBACKSagain and strengthens, rain
begins, pressure falls. On the front itself
very gusty winds are likely with a marked
drop in temperature and dewpoint; heavy
rain is probable, perhaps turning to snow
in winter; hail and thunder are also
CME
T,
possible,
and
the
pressure
starts
to
rise
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WEATHER
FRONTAL ZONES
SYSTEM

Usually, quite quickly the cloud will clear

away, and the tops of Cb clouds with the
characteristic anvil may be seen.
We are now back in thePOLARair mass
and as the cold air deepens so convective
clouds develop again, and showers can
develop with large Cu and Cb around.

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C M E T,