Weather+Map+Symbols



**A cold front** is defined as the transition zone where a cold air mass is replacing a warmer air mass. Cold fronts generally move from northwest to southeast. The air behind a cold front is noticeably colder and drier than the air ahead of it. When a cold front passes through, temperatures can drop more than 15 degrees within the first hour.

**A warm front** is defined as the transition zone where a warm air mass is replacing a cold air mass. Warm fronts generally move from southwest to northeast and the air behind a warm front is warmer and more moist than the air ahead of it. When a warm front passes through, the air becomes noticeably warmer and more humid than it was before.

When a warm or cold front stops moving, it becomes a **stationary front**. Once this boundary resumes its forward motion, it once again becomes a warm front or cold front. A stationary front is represented by alternating blue and red lines with blue triangles pointing towards the warmer air and red semicircles pointing towards the colder air.




 * A station model** is a symbolic illustration showing the weather occurring at a given reporting station. Meteorologists created the station model to find a number of weather elements in a small space on weather maps. Maps filled with dense station-model plots can be difficult to read, but they allow meteorologists, pilots, and mariners to see important weather patterns.




 * Example Regent's Questions**