🔍 Key Concepts

• Cold front passage – how temperature, pressure, and weather change as the front moves through • Typical barometric pressure trend before and after a cold front • How winds behave near a cold front – especially speed and direction/steadiness

💭 Think About

• Think about what type of air mass is behind a cold front compared to ahead of it – is it usually higher or lower pressure air? • When a cold front passes, does the wind usually settle down and become more gentle and variable, or does it often become stronger and more turbulent for a time? • Consider what you see on a barometer and anemometer on board as a squall line or sharp cold front goes by.

✅ Before You Answer

• Recall that cold, dense air is usually associated with higher pressure than the warm air it replaces • Decide whether winds near the front edge are typically calm/variable or strong/gusty • Picture the sequence: falling pressure ahead of the front, the front’s passage, then what happens to pressure and wind just after it passes.