Do warm or cold fronts cause thunderstorms?

A cold front forms when a cold air mass pushes into a warmer air mass. Cold fronts can produce dramatic changes in the weather. Lifted warm air ahead of the front produces cumulus or cumulonimbus clouds and thunderstorms, like in the image on the left (A). As the cold front passes, winds become gusty.

What is an elevated thunderstorm?

An elevated thunderstorm is a thunderstorm in which the base of the storm is well above the ground surface. One way this can occur is when lifting and instability release takes place but the initial relative humidity of the air during initial lifting is dry.

What happens when warm and cold air meet?

When a warm air mass meets a cold air mass, the warm air rises since it is lighter. As it rises, the warm air cools rapidly. This configuration, called a cold front, gives rise to cumulonimbus clouds, often associated with heavy precipitation and storms.

What temperature do thunderstorms form?

As a general rule, the surface dewpoint needs to be 55 degrees Fahrenheit or greater for a surface based thunderstorm to occur. A dewpoint of less than this is unfavorable for thunderstorms because the moist adiabatic lapse rate has more stable parcel lapse rate at colder dewpoints.

What front causes thunderstorms?

Large storm systems push that cold air southward and the leading edge of that cold air is the front. Cold fronts are notoriously known for their bad weather such as thunderstorms, tornadoes and heavy rain. Many of our severe weather events during the winter months are caused by cold fronts.

Where do thunderstorms occur?

Thunderstorms are most frequent in the Southeast U.S., especially along the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Florida. Thunderstorms are also fairly frequent in the rest of the Southeast U.S. into the Great Plains of the U.S. (more than 50 days per year, on average, with thunderstorms).

What happens when warm front passes?

Warm fronts generally move from southwest to northeast and the air behind a warm front is warmer and more moist than the air ahead of it. When a warm front passes through, the air becomes noticeably warmer and more humid than it was before.

What is elevated convection?

Elevated convection is the convective lifting of air that initially begins to rise starting above the planetary boundary layer. When a front is involved (cold, warm, dryline) the parcels lift from the top of the front. On a sounding, a temperature inversion often marks the vertical depth of the front.

What causes the rising of warm air that contributes to the weather?

The most powerful force which causes air to rise and cool is the Sun. When the Sun heats the surface of the Earth, warming of the air above the ground takes place. This warm air rises and cools as it goes higher. At a certain point, condensation will occur and clouds will form.

What causes thunderstorms to develop?

All thunderstorms need the same ingredients: moisture, unstable air and lift. Moisture usually comes from oceans. Unstable air forms when warm, moist air is near the ground and cold, dry air is above. It pushes unstable air upward, creating a tall thunderstorm cloud.

How does thunderstorm develop?

Thunderstorms arise when layers of warm, moist air rise in a large, swift updraft to cooler regions of the atmosphere. There the moisture contained in the updraft condenses to form towering cumulonimbus clouds and, eventually, precipitation.