🔍 Key Concepts

• Warm front structure and the warm sector in mid-latitude cyclones • How wind direction changes as a warm front passes a fixed location • Difference between backing and veering winds in the Northern Hemisphere

💭 Think About

• Think about what the wind was doing before the warm front arrived, as it passed, and after, when you are fully in the warm sector. • In the Northern Hemisphere, does the typical frontal passage make surface winds turn clockwise (veering) or counterclockwise (backing)? • Once you are well inside the warm sector, do the winds usually keep changing direction a lot, or do they tend to settle into a more uniform direction and speed?

✅ Before You Answer

• Be clear on definitions: backing = counterclockwise shift, veering = clockwise shift (Northern Hemisphere). • Visualize a classic low-pressure system with a warm front: where is the Red River Waterway (continental U.S.) relative to the cyclone center when the warm sector is overhead? • Ask: in the warm sector, are winds usually rapidly changing, or are they more uniform until the next front (often the cold front) arrives?