Cloud - Tropospheric Class - Clouds and Weather Forecasting - Cold Front

Cold Front

A cold front tends to give less warning of its approach because it usually moves faster than a warm front and has a narrower band of clouds and weather. If the cold front is active enough to produce thunderstorms, anvil cirrus clouds may spread ahead of the front as a warning of its approach. The other cloud types associated with a cold front are mostly cumuliform or stratocumuliform, with mid-level altocumulus giving way to lower stratocumulus and intermittent light precipitation if there is only slight airmass instability. With significant instability, vertically developed cumulus or cumulonimbus with showers and thunderstorms will form along the front.