"Backdoor Cold Front" Tonight
By Erica Grow on August 31, 2012, 10:28pm
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It was a bit warm and humid in Connecticut today, especially along the shoreline, where dewpoints reached into the upper 60s along with a high temperature of 90 degrees in both Bridgeport and Hartford. The heat and humidity will be scoured out of the atmosphere tonight, though, by a backdoor cold front.
What is a backdoor cold front? First of all, it's a uniquely New England weather feature; they practically never happen outside of our area. As you probably know, most of our weather in the United States moves from west to east. A big exception would be tropical systems and coastal storms, which generally move from south to north in the United States. The rarest exception is the backdoor cold front, which moves from northeast to southwest!
You can spot the presence of a backdoor cold front on a weather map by looking at the temperatures and dewpoints. There should be a sharp contrast between a cooler, drier airmass to the northeast, and a warm moist airmass to the southwest. The map above has the cold front clearly marked. During the overnight hours, this front will move further south and west, and by Saturday afternoon, it will be noticeably less humid along the shoreline than it was today.
Backdoor cold fronts usually don't have a lot of moisture with them, and they almost never produce thunderstorms. Our forecast for tonight calls for a dry frontal passage; the only indication of the front will be a shift in the winds and the drop in humidity along the shoreline. Because of this front, we're going to enjoy a beautiful, comfortable Labor Day weekend!
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