Ticker for September 9, 2008

                
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September 9, 2008  September 9, 2008  September 9, 2008  September 9, 2008



Ever Wonder Why We Use the Word "Front"?

A stout and very welcome cold front scraped its way across Oklahoma
yesterday, leaving northerly winds and much cooler air in its wake.
In lieu of a look outside, here's a look at conditions outside:



There was some rainfall involved. Here's a map of recent totals:



If you'd like to watch a movie, feel free (warning: 4.5 MB):

https://content.mesonet.org/ticker/archive/20080909/coldfront.mov

The background color is air temperature, and clearly shows the
cooler air filter into the state from the north.

By the way, have you ever wondered why we use the term "front" the
way we do? Here's the background:

The term "front" has actually been around less than 100 years.
The early theory of fronts (and LOTS of other weather knowledge!)
was developed in Norway in the mid-1910s and subsequent years.

Well, during these formative years, there was an epic World War
going on a few hundred miles to the south. And, the boundary
between opposing forces was called the "front". In other words,
if you had a bunch of Frenchmen over here and a bunch of Germans
over there, the zone between them was the "front" (see Remarque's
"All Quiet on the Western Front", for example).

Anyway, with this backdrop, it made a lot of sense to call the
boundary that separated air masses a "front". The term stuck, and
that's what we have today!