Let’s Learn Thunderstorm, Cheat Sheet of Meteorology

Download Let’s Learn Thunderstorm and more Cheat Sheet Meteorology in PDF only on Docsity! Let’s Learn Thunderstorm Whenever there is a weather disturbance, a thunderstorm is always present. In this sense, we can identify in the weather forecast or a news report that a thunderstorm is a mass of massive clouds. But are they just clouds? Let's find out! Thunderstorms are also called electrical storms or lightning storms. Small thunderstorms are sometimes called thundershowers. It materializes in the type of cloud known as a cumulonimbus. It is a severe short-term weather disturbance that is almost always associated with lightning, thunder, dense clouds, heavy rain or hail, and strong gusts of wind. Thunderstorms can occur anywhere in the world, while in the Philippines they are prevalent. So how does the thunderstorm form? Thunderstorms form when warm, moist air rises into cold air. Warm air cools, causing moisture called water vapor to form tiny water droplets—a process called condensation. Cooled air descends lower in the atmosphere, warms, and rises again. This circuit of rising and falling air is called a convection element. If this happens, cumulus clouds form. As the cloud grows, precipitation forms in the cloud in the form of ice, hail, and rain. When these particles collide, they become electrically charged. Lighter "ice crystals" are positively charged and are carried upward by rising air. Heavier "hail" gets a negative charge and either stays aloft or falls north of the storm cloud. A small positive amount also occurs at the base of the storm cloud. Then there is lightning. Lightning is an electric spark in the atmosphere or between the atmosphere and the earth. The air acts as an insulator between the positive and negative charges in the cloud and between the cloud and the ground. If the charge gaps grow too large, the air can no longer insulate the charges. Then there is a rapid electrical discharge that we call lightning. The main ingredients of a thunderstorm are moisture, instability, and lifting. A thunderstorm can be composed of a single powerful convective cell, a group of powerful convective cells, or a large number of powerful convective cells. They are classified as single-cell, multi-cell, or supercell based on their structure. Thunderstorms begin with air rising into the atmosphere to form a convection cell, but the air can be lifted in a number of ways. Thunderstorms can also be classified based on where they form and why the air rises. The first type of thunderstorm is caused by uplifted air caused by a mountain or hillside and is called an orographic thunderstorm. Frontal thunderstorms form along the edges of weather fronts (e.g., a cold front). Finally, air mass thunderstorms are caused by localized convection in an unstable air mass.