Regarding the warm/cold fronts... I think the major difference is what happens to the air masses when they meet. A cold front, as you know, involves a cooler air mass approaching a warmer one--the colder air mass undercuts the warmer air mass, because of their density differences. With the warm air being displaced upwards, the resulting atmospheric condition tends to be unstable. High clouds can build, thunderstorms, a gradient that favors convective uplift, etc. Cold fronts also tend to move more quickly and are in general more intense, I guess simply because of what happens when warm air is displace upwards.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2006-04-15 09:11 am (UTC)