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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.
Cumulonimbus mamma (WMO genus and supplementary feature) – Cb with pouch-like protrusions that hang from under anvil or cloud base. Cumulonimbus pannus (WMO genus and accessory cloud) – shredded sections attached to main Cb cloud. Cumulonimbus pileus (WMO genus and accessory cloud) – capped, hood-shaped cloud above a cumulonimbus cloud.
Cumulus congestus clouds compared against a cumulonimbus cloud in the background. Due to reflectivity, clouds cool the earth by around 12 °C (22 °F), an effect largely caused by stratocumulus clouds. However, at the same time, they heat the earth by around 7 °C (13 °F) by reflecting emitted radiation, an effect largely caused by cirrus clouds.
From towering cumulonimbus clouds that signal severe thunderstorms to the eerie, pouch-like mammatus clouds often associated with turbulent weather, each cloud formation carries unique information.
A cumulonimbus incus (from Latin incus 'anvil'), also called an anvil cloud, is a cumulonimbus cloud that has reached the level of stratospheric stability and has formed the characteristic flat, anvil-shaped top. [1] It signifies a thunderstorm in its mature stage, succeeding the cumulonimbus calvus stage. [2]
Towering vertical clouds have the greatest ability to produce intense precipitation events, but these tend to be localized unless organized along fast-moving cold fronts. Showers of moderate to heavy intensity can fall from cumulus congestus clouds. Cumulonimbus, the largest of all cloud genera, has the capacity to produce very heavy showers.
Image credits: riskyjon90 The CSIRO website lists some little-known cloud facts that are truly fascinating. For example, thunderstorm clouds can be green and nobody knows why, dandruff floating in ...
Cumulonimbus calvus is a moderately tall cumulonimbus cloud that is capable of precipitation but has not yet reached the tropopause, [1] which is the height of stratospheric stability at which cumulonimbus forms into cumulonimbus capillatus (fibrous-top) or cumulonimbus incus (anvil-top).