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War and the weather: Why we call them fronts

Posted at 7:12 AM, Dec 07, 2015
and last updated 2015-12-07 10:12:35-05

December 7, 1941 is a day which will live in infamy - the day Pearl Harbor was bombed and inevitably brought the United States into World War II.

It was during the second world war when meteorologists forecasting weather ahead of battles began to draw cold fronts and warm fronts on maps.

However, it was many years before this, during World War I when fronts were first discovered.

A Norwegian meteorologist by the name of Jacob Bjerknes who discovered the different air masses around the world and the stormy weather that occurs on the edges of these air masses.

Since this was during the first world war, the meteorologist discovering these boundaries of unsettled weather likened them to the battle fronts across Europe, so he decided to call them fronts.

Nearly 100 years after their discovery, we now have weather apps like RadarCast that notify us when one of these fronts is about to move through our area, bringing rain, snow or ice with it.

Follow Storm Shield Meteorologist Jason Meyersvia the Storm Shield appon Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Download the Storm Shield Weather Radio App for your iPhone or Android device and get severe weather alerts wherever you are. Named by Time.com one of the best weather apps for your iPhone.