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A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning [1] and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. [2] Relatively weak thunderstorms are sometimes called thundershowers. [3] Thunderstorms occur in a type of cloud known as a cumulonimbus. [4]
A cumulonimbus cloud emitting green is a sign that it is a severe thunderstorm, [21] capable of heavy rain, hail, strong winds and possible tornadoes. The exact cause of green thunderstorms is still unknown, but it could be due to the combination of reddened sunlight passing through very optically thick clouds.
Cumulonimbus (from Latin cumulus 'swell' and nimbus 'cloud') is a dense, towering, vertical cloud, [1] typically forming from water vapor condensing in the lower troposphere that builds upward carried by powerful buoyant air currents. Above the lower portions of the cumulonimbus the water vapor becomes ice crystals, such as snow and graupel ...
Clouds seen from the atmosphere in Nigeria during summer . The origin of the term "cloud" can be found in the Old English words clud or clod, meaning a hill or a mass of stone. Around the beginning of the 13th century, the word came to be used as a metaphor for rain clouds, because of the similarity in appearance between a mass of rock and ...
The English word comes from Proto-Germanic *sturmaz meaning "noise, tumult". [1] Storms are created when a center of low pressure develops with the system of high pressure surrounding it. This combination of opposing forces can create winds and result in the formation of storm clouds such as cumulonimbus.
Also actiniform. Describing a collection of low-lying, radially structured clouds with distinct shapes (resembling leaves or wheels in satellite imagery), and typically organized in extensive mesoscale fields over marine environments. They are closely related to and sometimes considered a variant of stratocumulus clouds. actinometer A scientific instrument used to measure the heating power of ...
A shelf cloud is a low, horizontal, wedge-shaped arcus cloud attached to the base of the parent cloud, which is usually a thunderstorm cumulonimbus, but could form on any type of convective clouds. Rising air motion can often be seen in the leading (outer) part of the shelf cloud, while the underside can often appear as turbulent and wind-torn.
A gnome is a type of lightning that is a small, brief spike of light that points upward from a thunderstorm cloud's anvil top, caused as strong updrafts push moist air above the anvil. It lasts for only a few microseconds. [35] It is about 200 meters wide, and is a maximum of 1 kilometer in height.