What happens when cold air mass and warm air mass combine/mix? ?
The most common occurrence of this happening is referred to as a “cold-front” or “warm-front” where a “wall” of warm or cool air pushes through an area. The warm air will rise up over the colder air, as it rises higher it cools and the moisture it is carrying condenses. Higher temperature allows more of a substance to be held in solution, therefor more moisture can be held in warm air than in cool air but as the warm air rises into the atmosphere it cools. As it cools it can no longer hold as much moisture so the moisture condenses onto particles (usually dirt/dust particles) forming small ice crystals. If the air is warm enough and the ice crystals fall slow enough they will melt and form rain drops. More violent “collisions” of air masses can create wind sheer as the two masses begin to ride over one another and can create tornados and throw around the ice crystals and allow them to continue to grow creating hail.
