Strong cold fronts, like the one we saw pass through the area this past Monday, bring chilly air and gusty winds! But, why are these increased wind speeds associated with a front like this?
Think about it like this: there is a tub of water with a divider in the middle, one side of the divider has a higher amount of water than the other side. When the divider is removed, everything in the tub is equal. That is exactly what is happening in our atmosphere when there is an area of high pressure and low pressure close to one another!
The area of high pressure acts as the higher amount of water and the air mass will rush to the area of low pressure to restore equilibrium in the atmosphere. This is why wind speeds are higher in the wake of Monday’s cold front, associated with low pressure, as high pressure has filtered in the cold front’s wake!