Gust front

[utopia]

How far in front of a thunderstorm can a gust front extend? And are there any key 'signatures' by which it can be unmistakenly identified?

[Anti-Mild]

How far in front of a thunderstorm can a gust front extend? And are there any key 'signatures' by which it can be unmistakenly identified?

Don't know about the first question but I was lucky enough to photograph one last May:

At least, that's what I was told it was !

[Paul Sherman]

Gust Front from 5th May 2006 in Central Texas.

Put simply a Gust Front is a "Boundary" which seperates the Cold Downdraught of a Thunderstorm from the Warm moist Juicy air at the Surface.

Regards

Paul Sherman

[utopia]

Impressive stuff. Am I to take it that these gust fronts won't generally extend more than say 20 nm?

[BrickFielder]

Gust fronts don't really extend in front of a Thunderstorm they mark the boundary of the downdraft and updraft regions and can be a few minutes ahead of the rain.First you get an updraft area of rising warm air ,then you get the gust front and roll cloud and finally the rain.Where a thunderstorm has become outflow dominant (no updraft) then I guess a gust front could extend a couple of miles out from the thunderstorm.