Cold Front, 27 April 2004.
Further Comments
- This front took us by surprise here in the office. It was certainly a
blustery day but we didn't really expect such a swift change in the
weather.
- A colleague driving to Duncan encountered the rain about an hour
before it arrived here. He described it as a sheet or wall of rain.
- The volume of rain and the rain rate were not very great, but the onset
was quite sudden.
- The same time has been marked on each figure with a vertical grey line.
Here is the data.
Characteristics of a Passing Cold Front
|
Before Passing |
While Passing |
After Passing |
| Winds |
south-southwest |
gusty; shifting |
west-northwest |
| Temperature |
warm |
sudden drop |
steadily dropping |
| Pressure |
falling steadily |
minimum, then sharp rise |
rising steadily |
| Clouds |
increasing: Ci, Cs and Cb |
Cb |
Cu |
| Precipitation |
short period of showers |
heavy rains, sometimes with hail, thunder and lightning |
showers then clearing |
| Visibility |
fair to poor in haze |
poor, followed by improving |
good, except in showers |
| Dew Point |
high; remains steady |
sharp drop |
lowering |
GOES satellite images are available here (15 MB) as
an animated GIF file.