A cold front is defined as the transition zone where a cold air mass is replacing a warmer air mass.

Typically, the air behind a cold front is much drier and cooler than the air ahead of it. Temperatures can drop more than 15 degrees within the first hour.

There are cases, like we sometimes see in early fall or even late spring, where a "cold front" passes through bringing very little change in temperature. Sometimes you may hear a meteorologist refer to this as a "cool front" even though that term technically does not exist.



It all depends on the strength of the front. A strong front will be able transport the more dense cold air into a region of warm air. A weak front will sometimes only cool temperatures a few degrees, or just produce a wind shift from a different direction. 

Either way you slice it, a weak vs. strong cold front is a cold front because a cold airmass is still replacing a warm airmass. 

Once we head into the month of November, cold front will become more frequent across our local area.

CLICK HERE FOR A VIDEO ON COLD FRONTS