STORM2K

I understand that the center of a low pressure has rising air due to moist air being less dense and therefore more bouyant. I understand that the coriolis effect causes this air to rotate CCW. So then the area around this rising air rotates with it. So as this air is rising, other air must be drawn in at the bottom of the low, spiraling inward. But this rotating air is affected by centrifugal force, resisting the inward rush. So the tendency would be for the pressure in the center to drop even more. Is this what they mean when a low "intensifies?"

And then where does the rising air go? Does it just spread out into the upper atmosphere? is there any pattern to this movement? If the low is associated with a front, does this air move along the frontal boundary away from the low?

What's an "upper level low" as opposed to a "surface low?" Does an upper level low have layers below it that are not moving in the same manner?

An upper level low is only just that... an upper level low pressure. You therefore wouldn't have a rotation of air below that unless there was a surface low. Otherwise it should just be totally opposite.

Thanks for the reply Rock. So then the different layers can be doing different things. I think that a person could spend a lifetime learning about the weather and still not know it all.

I agree Ed. Thanks for the explination Rock.