The Life of a Thunderstorm
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The Life of a Thunderstorm
40,000 thunderstorms occur throughout the world each and every day. Some more violent than others, some producing a lot of rain, some producing F3 tornadoes! But one thing remains the same in all of these thunderstorms: their life cycle. Every storm goes through this cycle. It’s how they live basically!
Ingredients for a Thunderstorm
A general thunderstorm needs 3 main ingredients: moisture, stability, and lift. Moisture to provide the rain and sometimes hail, stability to last a long time, and lift to get the storm to a high enough level to remain active.
There are also 3 stages of life that storms go through: developing, maturity, and dissolving. Developing is when the storm is just now strengthening; maturity is when the storm is at its peek activity, and dissolving when the storm is going away.
Developing
The developing stage starts when warm, moist air rises above mixing with the cooler air. As the warm air cools, clouds are formed by condensation. The cloud then forms larger with help by the instability in the atmosphere. Then, we reach the maturity stage.
Maturity
When the storm is mature, the cloud is at its peek activity. The storm is well developed, including a strong, dense anvil along with updrafts and downdrafts. Precipitation is falling hard to earth. Hail will form when the cool downdrafts mixes with the warm updrafts. When the top of the cloud shoots over the tropopause, it is called the overshooting top. When a storm does this, it means the storm is very strong and has capability to produce severe weather and tornadoes.
Dissolving
When the cool downdrafts begin to intensify, the storm begins to dissolve. These downdrafts basically push every thing out of the storm. Depending on the type of storm, it’s life will last anywhere from 15 minutes to hours.
Types of Storms
There are many types of storms including single-cell, multi-cell, squall line, and more. A single-cell thunderstorm is just what it looks like; a small, single thunderstorm usually developing fast and weakening quickly. Single-cell thunderstorms have the capability to reach supercell level, the most destructive type of thunderstorm. Multi-cell are also what they sound like; many thunderstorms bunched together feeding off of each other to intensify. And now my favorite, the squall line. A squall line forms along a cold front. Why is it my favorite? Because these storms formed on the squall line tend to be severe. They usually will move quickly, but when they don’t, you better watch out!
Thunderstorms are great weather phenomenons, but they shouldn’t be taken loosely. I hope you enjoyed the read.
JohnB0127
My website: www.NorthTexasLuxury.com
Twitter: @JIBurg4
Do you like thunderstorms?
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Thanks! Haha, I love them ALL!!
Great info and article, :) thanks
Great pics and well written story, too. Thanks, man. I enjoyed it!
That strong supercell photo is quite startling. I live in Florida so I've been able to witness what this hub regards first hand! I generally enjoy thunderstorms, but I won't be naive enough to deny that there is definitely an element of danger. I much prefer a heavy rain without thunder and lighting as opposed to with it. The rain is very soothing. It makes my wife and I very sleepy :) It's really amazing all of the things that need to come together to make up such a storm, but it happens frequently enough in these parts! Great read John!
-Debris
Thanks guys for the comments!
Debris - living in Texas, I have witnessed the same thing. Some storms I love, but some, I admit, frighten me a lot. I usually love a thunderstorm and then a tornado warning comes up and Im scared! I am slowly working my way out of this process. Thanks,
--John
IM SCARED=[
Lol!
frogyfish Level 6 Commenter 2 years ago
johnbo127, these are FANTASTIC pictures! Scary too, when you realize what they can mean.... And, I can't vote yet, because I like thunderstorms that are MILD but NOT the ones like dangerous! Can I vote yes and no? :-)