Geography 2310A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Cold-Air Damming, Occluded Front, Jet Stream
28 Jul 2017
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Document Summary
Drawn as combination of warm and cold fronts w/ opposite directional components. Cold air masses not able to spread over high. Develop when a cold front overtakes warm front. Represent a boundary where there is a change in moisture. Separate moist air from dry air but temps similar on both sides of the line. Cold dense air can wedge along mountain foothills (called cold air damming) Severe ice storms may happen in winter b/c cold air trapped at surface. Mid-latitude cyclones responsible for majority of precip in mid-latitudes (30-60 ) made of three parts: a center of low pressure, a warm front, a cold front. Occluded front eventually develops later in life cycle. Life cycle of mlc is approx. one week and can be broken down into six parts. 1)stationary front (2)frontal wave (3)open wave (4)mature (5)occlusion (6)cut-off/death. Mlcs often form along stationary fronts (4) mature well developed fronts circulating about a deep low pressure center.
