In the midlatitudes, large-scale precipitation is dominated by fronts that are often coincident with extratropical cyclones and atmospheric rivers. These features are largely responsible for high-impact events (e.g., floods) across the entire US, and are generally vital for water management in regions with highly seasonal precipitation (like the Western US). We will present research that leverages the DOE’s Earth system model (E3SM) using a regionally-refined mesh over the United States to investigate the characteristics of large-scale precipitation-inducing phenomena, how regional refinement in resolution can improve/degrade frontal representation compared to a coarse resolution grid, and how frontal structure may change in a warming climate. Assessment of the vertical structure of atmospheric fronts, particularly those coincident with extratropical cyclones and atmospheric rivers, in E3SM will be emphasized. Frontal characteristics, including frontal slope, coincidence of atmospheric rivers, extratropical cyclones and fronts, tropopause structure, moisture transport characteristics, and, ultimately, their influence on precipitation are investigated and compared to the ERA5 reanalysis dataset.