Plain English Meaning

When a fast cold front catches up to a slow warm front, it shoves the warm air upward off the ground. What's left at the surface is two cool air masses meeting, with the warm air trapped above them. Pilots often see a stretch of cloudy, wet, sometimes bumpy weather as this passes through.

Full Definition

A weather front formed when a faster-moving cold front overtakes a slower-moving warm front, lifting the warm air mass off the surface so it no longer touches the ground. The result is two cold (or cool) air masses meeting at the surface with the displaced warm air aloft. Occluded fronts typically bring a mix of weather associated with both cold and warm fronts, including widespread cloud cover, precipitation, and sometimes .