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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]
Upper-atmospheric lightning and ionospheric lightning are terms sometimes used by researchers to refer to a family of short-lived electrical-breakdown phenomena that occur well above the altitudes of normal lightning and storm clouds. Upper-atmospheric lightning is believed to be electrically induced forms of luminous plasma.
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 ...
A cumulonimbus cloud that appears to have a greenish or bluish tint is a sign that it contains extremely high amounts of water; hail or rain which scatter light in a way that gives the cloud a blue color. A green colorization occurs mostly late in the day when the sun is comparatively low in the sky and the incident sunlight has a reddish tinge ...
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.
A supercell with a hail core near Stratford, Texas on May 18, 2023. A supercell is a thunderstorm characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone, a deep, persistently rotating updraft. [1] Due to this, these storms are sometimes referred to as rotating thunderstorms. [2] Of the four classifications of thunderstorms (supercell, squall line ...
A sprite at the horizon, with lightning below in the troposphere and above the green line of airglow at the upper mesopause and border to space (the bright light above is the Moon). First color image of a sprite, taken from an aircraft. A sprite over Laos, as seen from the International Space Station. Sprites appear as luminous red-orange flashes.
The red line is temperature, the green line is the dew point, and the black line is the air parcel lifted. In meteorology, convective available potential energy (commonly abbreviated as CAPE), [1] is a measure of the capacity of the atmosphere to support upward air movement that can lead to cloud formation and storms.