Clouds

• Both fronts are accompanied by clouds. The cold air front produces cumulonimbus clouds, while a warm front produces nimbostratus, altostratus, cirrostratus and cirrus clouds.
  
  

Rain

• When a front, either cold or warm, moves in, rain occurs. The rain that occurs after a cold front arrives will be heavy and cold. The rain that follows a warm front will be a slow rain, but steady. Both warm and cold fronts involve warm air rising into the atmosphere.
  
  

Acquiring Surface Properties

• Both air masses are capable of acquiring the properties of the surface that is underneath them. The longer an air mass stays over its source region, the more likely it is to acquire the properties of the surface below, according to the National Weather Service Jetstream Online School for Weather. When, for example, an arctic winter air mass moves over the ocean, it picks up moisture and warmth and becomes a maritime polar air mass, meaning it's still cold but contains moisture. If this same mass moves from Canada into the southern United States, it will assume some of the warmth of the ground but it will stay dry because it lacks moisture. This is called a continental polar mass. The United States isn't considered a good source region because weather disturbances occur relatively frequently, and this disrupts any opportunity for air mass to stagnate and acquire properties of the underlying region.
  
  

Identification

• Cold and warm fronts are identified by a change in moisture content, pressure changes, drastic and quick temperature changes, rain and cloud patterns and quick shifts in wind direction.
  
  

Impact on Weather

• Both fronts determine how the weather is going to be after the front passes. A cold front results in cool and fair weather, while a warm front means it is going to be hot and humid.
  
  

Configuration and Purpose

• The warm or cold front is narrow compared to the air mass behind it. In ideal situations, the front serves as a barrier between two air masses that are moving at the same speed and direction. Both cold and warm air masses, which can cover thousands of miles or more, are horizontal, and the most activity goes on in the front or boundary area of the mass. When an air mass is overhead, you will experience air mass weather. The front is what marks a change in weather.
  
  

Potential

• When the air mass on one side of a front is moving faster in the direction perpendicular to the front than the air mass on the other side, this causes the air masses to bump into each other and there is a clash. When the masses get mixed up in the frontal surface, the masses usually keep their identities but the warmer air, which is less dense, is always forced upward while the cooler air, which is denser, operates as a wedge from which the lifting up takes place.