 Rainbands spawned near and ahead of cold fronts can be squall lines which are able to produce tornadoes . Rainbands associated with cold fronts can be warped by mountain barriers perpendicular to the front 's orientation due to the formation of a low @-@ level barrier jet . Bands of thunderstorms can form with sea breeze and land breeze boundaries , if enough moisture is present . If sea breeze rainbands become active enough just ahead of a cold front , they can mask the location of the cold front itself . Banding within the comma head precipitation pattern of an extratropical cyclone can yield significant amounts of rain or snow . Behind extratropical cyclones , rainbands can form downwind of relative warm bodies of water such as the Great Lakes . If the atmosphere is cold enough , these rainbands can yield heavy snow . 
