Meaning
Meteorology: the leading edge of an advancing mass of cooler air, which slides beneath and displaces warmer air at ground level, typically bringing a sharp temperature drop, a wind shift, and often rain, snow, or thunderstorms. Figuratively, any sudden advancing onset of cold or unwelcoming conditions. Technical origin but fully mainstream in weather reporting; the figurative sense (a cold front of criticism) is journalistic and secondary. Do not confuse with a cold snap, which names the short spell of cold itself rather than the air-mass boundary that delivers it. Warm front and occluded front are companion terms from the same Bergen model, and the word front here echoes World War I battle fronts. Regional use: Universal - international meteorological vocabulary of Norwegian scientific origin.
Origin
The term was coined by the Norwegian Bergen School of meteorology, founded in Bergen in 1917 by Vilhelm Bjerknes; his assistants there between 1917 and 1926 included his son Jacob Bjerknes, Halvor Solberg, and Tor Bergeron. Their Norwegian cyclone model, developed during and shortly after World War I, named the trailing convergence zone behind a low the squall line or cold front, and the word front was chosen because the leading edges of air-mass changes resembled the military fronts of the recently ended war on a map. English print evidence follows quickly: the OED's only evidence for cold front is from 1921, in a text by J. A. B. Bjerknes and H. S. Solberg, and Etymonline likewise dates the meteorological sense of front to 1921. The United States did not formally analyze fronts on surface weather maps until August 1, 1941, and worldwide frontal analysis spread by the mid-20th century.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- a cold frontal boundary
- a frontal passage
- cold fronts
Usage Examples
- A strong cold front will sweep across the plains tonight, bringing snow squalls and gusty northwest winds.
- The temperature dropped fifteen degrees in an hour as the cold front moved through just after lunch.
- Her restructuring proposal met a cold front of skepticism from the board's older members.