Weather Fronts Are A Factor Of Air Movement

Interaction between the Earth's atmosphere and sun's heat is a never-ending process and is always a constant. Every part of the atmosphere doesn't get heated up equivalently at the same time. This in-equivalence makes the large masses of air to move about as an automatic response of the atmosphere to balance itself. The varied types of weather are a direct result of this mass movement of air.

The existing air mass in a region gets encountered that is already there when another air mass moves in. front is the boundary that is created between these two air masses. Cold front is when the cold air replaces the warm air and when cold front gets replaced, it is known as a warm front.

A cold air mass when encounters a warm front, the colder air get pushed below the warm front. Condensed water vapor changes into clouds when the warm front rises and cools down. Appearance of mid-level clouds follows high cirrus clouds. Mid-level cloud is followed by Thick stratus clouds. Precipitation and wind come next.

Often cold fronts produce weathers that are more volatile by nature. The warm air mass moves upward sharply when it comes in contact with a cold front. Convection and instability results due to this sharp upward movement. Along the front trigger storms and formation of large cumulus clouds. An area of strong winds and low-pressure zone gets created due to the quick rise in air. The actual front is accompanied by strong winds and heavy rain. After frontal passage come the persisting showers.

At times a cold front overtakes a generally slower moving warm front. The warm front gets pushed aloft the cold front when this happens. An occluded front is the line formed in-between the two fronts as they continue to move together. Light precipitation and Stratus clouds generally accompany the occluded fronts.

A stagnant area is formed when two air masses that are different but not strong enough to push and replace the other meet. Precipitation for a long time period accompanied by cloudy weather results in due to this stagnant situation. This stagnant front may as a warm or cold front begin to move or after a few days may dissipate. In summer the chances of occurrence of such stagnant fronts are higher.

More than 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by the oceans. Land surface doesn't cool down or heat up as quickly as the water surface and hence heat is efficiently stored in seawater. Due to this characteristic cold or warm water is carried to different parts of the globe by ocean currents. The temperature of the currents below affects the temperatures on the surface. Changes in temperatures of the sea alter climates. It affects more effectively the climate of the coastal region.

In the few weeks around the summer and winter solstices the maximum and minimum sea temperatures legs because of the slow heating and cooling nature of water. The weather is affected by the variation in sea and land temperatures that gets heightened due to this lag. As a result large portions of the water surface may experience fogs and the weather in the coastal region might be cooler.

In the air the water vapor gets condensed to form clouds that eventually as precipitation falls down on the Earth surface. The whole process starts all over again as most of it goes back to the oceans after a small portion of it gets absorbed by snow and rain.