Labs / Geography
Warm & Cold Fronts
Two air masses meet in cross-section. Dense cold air wedges steeply under warm air, or warm air glides gently up over retreating cold air — each builds its own clouds and rain band. Press play (or drag the scene) to move the front across the town and read its temperature and pressure trace.
slope 1:85cloud Cumulusrain 0.0 mm/hT 20.0 °CP 1013 hPa
What to try
- Switch between a cold and a warm front. Which one has the steeper frontal slope, and which one's rain band is wider?
- Watch the trace as a cold front passes: why does the temperature drop so suddenly while a warm front only nudges it up gently?
- Turn the temperature contrast up to the maximum. What happens to the rain intensity and the size of the pressure dip at the town?
- For a warm front, which cloud arrives over the town first — the high wispy cirrus or the low grey nimbostratus? Why does that order make sense?
- Pause and drag the front slowly back and forth across the town. Where exactly is the pressure lowest relative to the surface front?