Met Mailbag is your chance to have a Weather Plus Meteorologist answer your weather question. Each Thursday, our NBC Weather Pulse Blog will publish the answers to questions you send us. This week's question was answered by NBC Weather Plus Meteorologist Jackie Meretsky.

Question: What is an occluded front?
Submitted by Dennis Baranec of Naples, Florida.

Answer: Hi Dennis. Thanks for your question about occluded fronts. It's a very timely question since we are in that transitional time of year with all sorts of colors and fronts on our weather maps.

First of all, a front is simply the place where two air masses meet. It's almost like two people coming together for a tug of war. One will inevitably dominate or overtake the other.

Occluded fronts are formed when a cold front overtakes a warm front or a quasi-stationary front. The warm air is forced up once the two fronts collide and curve upwards. The point of curvature is called the triple point.

Along an occluded front, thunderstorms are possible followed by a much drier air mass.

If you're looking for an occluded front on a weather map, look for the purple line with alternating half circles and triangles pointing in the direction of travel.

I hope that answers your question, Dennis.

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