How to Draw a Stationary Front

Weather maps illustrate meteorological elements in a specific area. These elements include, but are not limited to, high/low pressures, jet streams and weather fronts. A weather front is a transition between air masses with different temperatures or humidity. You see cold fronts, warm fronts, stationary fronts and occluded fronts in different geographic locations on a weather map. It is very easy to draw a stationary front on a weather map using a series of colors and shapes to designate its position.

Things You'll Need

  • Weather map
  • Black, red and blue markers
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Instructions

    • 1

      Look at the weather map and identify the cold fronts. Cold fronts occur in locations where a cool mass of air intersects with a warm mass of air. Cold fronts generally move quickly and appear as a blue line with blue triangles (spikes) pointing toward the direction in which the cold front is moving.

    • 2

      Find the warm fronts on the weather map. Warm fronts occur in locations where a warm mass of air intersects with a cool mass of air. Warm fronts generally move more slowly and they follow cold fronts. A warm front appears as a red line with half-circles pointing in the direction in which the warm front moves.

    • 3

      Locate the area between the cold fronts and warm fronts. This space is known as a stationary front, where neither the cold front nor the warm front has enough strength to affect the weather. Usually, clouds and prolonged precipitation occur in areas where there is a stationary front.

    • 4

      Draw the stationary front halfway between the cold and warm fronts with a red and blue line. Make the line sweep in an arc over the area experiencing clouds and rain. Alternating back and forth, draw blue triangles (spikes) pointing in the direction closest to the cold front and red half-circles pointing in the direction closest to the warm front.

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