"Richard Dixon" wrote in message
...
"Waghorn" wrote in
:

"......why split fronts appear to be more common in the British Isles
than in the Pacific Northest.........."

Do they mean split as in a kata-front or split as in ana- towards the
trailing end of the cold front and kata- towards the low pressure end of
the front?

Cheers
Richard

A split cold front is where the upper part of the front overruns the lower. The
top part then has the main rain area, the rear part becomes the surface cold
front (where the surface airmass changes), and the bit in between is called the
shallow moist zone characterized by low cloud and drizzle but may also become
potentially unstable as dry air aloft moves over the top. Most cold fronts in
summer over the UK are split. Ana and kata refer to how the wind direction
component perpendicular to the front varies with height. If it decreases with
height the front is ana, if it increases it is kata, hence split cold fronts are
usually kata fronts, but don't confuse ana and kata with weak or strong a kata
front can still give a lot of rain.

HTH

Will.
--


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