What front is it? Why each type of cold front affects you differently

It's that time of the year when cold fronts start to become a bit more frequent and drive our temperatures down, but you may have noticed sometimes they are a bit stronger, a bit rainier, or there's seemingly no real big change at all. Those factors depend on where the front actually develops from. Here are the three fronts that affect us the most:

Pacific Front

The Pacific Front develops from the Pacific Ocean and travels from west to east. Pacific Front don't bring the coldest air, and they see the smallest of temperature changes. This type of front could produce a few showers and sometimes bring West Texas dust with it as well.

Using the map below, you can see the movement from the west toward the east.

Canadian Cold Front

The Canadian Cold Front is a bit stronger than the Pacific Cold Front. This type of air mass will move in from the northwest and bring colder temperatures. It has less moisture at times unless it goes over a bigger mass of water, like the Great Lakes, where it could create snow which would be a bit more powdery.

Here is a look at how a Canadian Cold Front could start moving south.

Arctic Cold Front

The Arctic Cold Font is the strongest of the three. We normally see these types of fronts arrive from November to March, but they're most frequent from January to February. We see the biggest drop in temperatures and they usually last a bit longer. These can bring the strongest winds and bring brutal wind chills. There isn't much rain for us with this type of front.

Here is a look at the movement of the Arctic Cold Front

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