When we see a streak of light in the sky, we immediately try to close our ears to avoid the sound of thunder. This we normally call as thunderstorm(TS). Have you ever wondered, where do these thunderstorm come from? ....definitely from clouds... so do all the clouds produce thunder?... Let's see... there is only one cloud type that produce this TS.
The TS comes from cumulonimbus (Cb) cloud, the type shown in Fig. 1.
This particular Cb cloud will develop from surface till Tropopause and sometimes even beyond that,....
Fig. 1. Cumulonimbus cloud
Image source: WMO
As a result of this vertical extension, there exist difference in charge particles in the cloud that causes TS (Fig. 2). You can imagine them like tall mountains... they will give heavy rain/showers, strong winds, hails (ice pellets from Cb), lightening and thunder.
Fig.2. Thunder cloud with different charges that causes lightening.
Image source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc
Let's take few scenarios
Suppose, if you are a frequent traveler by air, you might have noticed that sometimes your plane might have gone on rounds for a few hours without landing or sometimes even directed to alternate airports due to severe weather... one of the reason for that is this thunder cloud. You might be wondering why a plane can't land or not allowed to land when Cb is present over the station...
This is because the air inside this cloud is so erratic (Fig. 3) that the wind movement will be in an upward (red arrows) and downward (violet arrows) motions and if a plane is caught in thunder cloud it is not safe. So, normally the planes avoid them by going around.
Fig. 3. Cumulonimbus cloud structure
Image source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc
Lets take another scenario,
If I am an orchard (fruit trees) farmer and if a TS season approaches, then I will be worried about the strong winds and hails associated with the thunder cloud, that might cause damage to my trees. So I have to provide safety nets to the trees to avoid more mechanical damage and I would avoid going to open field to avoid the lightening strike.
Like this depending upon end users, the impact of TS varies. You can relate it to your own experience.....
These thunderstorms are nowadays being forecasted through nowcasting (forecast for the next few hours) using satellites and radars. You also have lightening alerts apps like the Damini app to track the lightening nearby your location.
As said in the prior post in the Know about clouds, keep on watching them, you can define your own forecasts by observing. The observations can also be done using satellite and radar products that are available freely. Keep track of the websites that is given in links to know the weather. In upcoming blogs we will discuss how to identify clouds using satellite and radar products.
Stay tuned !
Thanks
Super indeed.