Finding a front

[Chris Hayes]

I'm on the SPC Mesoscale Analysis Page and am trying to find the warm front. What is the best way to find fronts; surface charts, 850mb? Some fronts I have an easy time finding if they're really pronounced, but warm front, that is going to be a point of interest today is not very well pronounced, so I was wondering what the best way of finding it is?

 

[Tim Stoecklein]

Hey Chris,

I think you'll see the front become more pronounced as things tend to warm up, but I like to start with the surface obs. I look at temps first, but if it's not quite evident there you can look at the dewpoints for some guidance. If the surface obs aren't painting a clear picture, look at the visible satellite images. Often the cloud structure can paint a clearer picture, especially if you put it in motion.

I'm no guru, but these are a couple of starting points I like to look at on days when the picture isn't all that clear. Looks to me as though the front is in the vicinity of I-70 or a bit north at the moment. Of course, I could be way off

 

[Chris Lott]

Hey Chris,

I think you'll see the front become more pronounced as things tend to warm up, but I like to start with the surface obs. I look at temps first, but if it's not quite evident there you can look at the dewpoints for some guidance. If the surface obs aren't painting a clear picture, look at the visible satellite images. Often the cloud structure can paint a clearer picture, especially if you put it in motion.

I'm no guru, but these are a couple of starting points I like to look at on days when the picture isn't all that clear. Looks to me as though the front is in the vicinity of I-70 or a bit north at the moment. Of course, I could be way off

I'm noticing the same thing. I look at surface obs first as well, and to me it looks to be across parts of Central Ks pushing north. Temps north of the warm front into parts of Nebraska are in the low 70's while temps are about mid 80's in KS.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

That's it ... obs and wind barbs usually paint an accurate enough picture of the boundary. I usually use the surface maps on the SPC mesoscale analysis page to locate them.

If you are chasing the WF today, you'll want to pinpoint its location by mid-afternoon and keep track of it. We'll want want any storm moving along that boundary.

 

[Chris Hayes]

Thanks for the help everyone That's a help

 

[Matt Hughes]

Another great way to find fronts and OFBs is with doppler radar. If they are close to the radar site then they are usually easy to pick up. The link below is to a site with a great 1/2km scan

http://weather.cod.edu/analysis/analysis.1and2km.html

 

[Jon Miller]

Hourly web sites showing sfc maps w/ fronts etc:

http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/sfc/90fwbg.gif

http://weather.unisys.com/surface/sfc_map.html

 

[rdale]

Not hourly - but every three hours, and with a 1+ hour delay...

 

[Menno van der Haven]

Differences in dewpoint, veering surface winds, pressure falls before and rises after the front and troughs in the isobar-pattern. For me that works the best; surface temperatures and cloud obervations are mostly secondary and often not so prolonged.
In some cases one parmater really jumps out but most times it's te combination of several parameters which seems to fit.

If you have no clue at all you can always look at 850 hPa obs but sometimes that's tricky because of the slope of the front.....