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Warm, moist air rises, expands, and cools to form clouds.

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More air rising leads to more cloud formation, and if the air has moisture in it, condensates in rain.

Upward and downward motion of rising and sinking air creates convection cells. The movement of air particles creates electric charges that cause lightning.

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Downdrafts become more powerful than the updrafts, which means no more clouds or moisture can form.

The thunderstorm slowly stops as the clouds exhaust its rain and electricity stops generating.

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Strength = Weak
-around 70 mph (112 km/h)
Single Cell storms only updraft once and downdraft once, they don’t continue to expand.
Lasts about 30 minutes to and hour max.
-Rain, Wind, Lightning

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single-cell storm sped up

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Strength = Medium
-around 30-80 mph (128 km/h)
A cell cluster that acts as one cell.
Similar to single-cell but has:
-Heavier rain, more aggressive winds and lightning
Last longer than single-cell due to the cell clusters continuing to form pushing them more upstream allowing it to slightly expand but keep it in a small area creating “training echoes”
-A common cause of floods

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Multi-Cell sped up

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What air mass forms the clouds in thunderstorms?

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What air mass forms the clouds in thunderstorms?

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Maritime tropical air masses have moisture from the ocean, and a hotter temperature that causes the air to rise.

Warm rising air is necessary for clouds to form.

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The electrification of molecules inside the rain clouds creates charges that are attracted to the ground.

Sometimes, people can be an oppositely charged source and lightning may strike them.

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Thunderstorms are usually accompanied by intense but usually short rainstorms. Air movement within the clouds causes extreme winds on the ground.

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Balls of ice can cause damage to weak buildings, cars, and other infrastructure.

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The upward and downward movement of air due to temperature and pressure differences.

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Convection cells are caused by temperature changes in the cloud. When the altitude increases, the warm air from the formation cools. Cooling air sinks, creating a continual cycle of air that forms more clouds for the thunderstorm.

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The strongest type of thunderstorms, Multi/Squall lines last the longest, are the largest, and have the most damaging weather effects.

Wind speeds can range from 60 mph to 100 mph.

The difference from other types is that cells continue to form/reform making the storm extend longer and form a line.

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More commonly in the noon and afternoon where the temperature is higher and air is more likely to rise.

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Strength = Strongest
-moves from about 60-100+ mph (96-160+ km/h)
(speeds can reach over 100 mph)
Lasts 30 minutes to over an hour.
Can cause: Tornadoes, extreme hail, very heavy winds (caused by the drown drafts) and flash floods
can form different ways

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Image from:

National Geographic, Lightning Facts
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/lightning

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Lightning is an electrical discharge caused by imbalances between storm clouds and the ground, or within the clouds themselves. Most lightning occurs within the clouds.

"Sheet lightning" describes a distant bolt that lights up an entire cloud base. Other visible bolts may appear as bead, ribbon, or rocket lightning.

During a storm, colliding particles of rain, ice, or snow inside storm clouds increase the imbalance between storm clouds and the ground, and often negatively charge the lower reaches of storm clouds. Objects on the ground, like steeples, trees, and the Earth itself, become positively charged-creating an imbalance that nature seeks to remedy by passing current between the two charges.

Lightning is extremely hot-a flash can heat the air around it to temperatures five times hotter than the sun's surface. This heat causes surrounding air to rapidly expand and vibrate, which creates the pealing thunder we hear a short time after seeing a lightning flash.

Types of Lightning

Cloud-to-ground lightning bolts are a common phenomenon-about 100 strike Earth's surface every single second-yet their power is extraordinary. Each bolt can contain up to one billion volts of electricity.

A typical cloud-to-ground lightning bolt begins when a step-like series of negative charges, called a stepped leader, races downward from the bottom of a storm cloud toward the Earth along a channel at about 200,000 mph (300,000 kph). Each of these segments is about 150 feet (46 meters) long.

When the lowermost step comes within 150 feet (46 meters) of a positively charged object, it is met by a climbing surge of positive electricity, called a streamer, which can rise up through a building, a tree, or even a person.

When the two connect, an electrical current flows as negative charges fly down the channel towards earth and a visible flash of lightning streaks upward at some 200,000,000 mph (300,000,000 kph), transferring electricity as lightning in the process.

Some types of lightning, including the most common types, never leave the clouds but travel between differently charged areas within or between clouds. Other rare forms can be sparked by extreme forest fires, volcanic eruptions, and snowstorms. Ball lightning, a small, charged sphere that floats, glows, and bounces along oblivious to the laws of gravity or physics, still puzzles scientists.

About one to 20 cloud-to-ground lightning bolts is "positive lightning," a type that originates in the positively charged tops of stormclouds. These strikes reverse the charge flow of typical lightning bolts and are far stronger and more destructive. Positive lightning can stretch across the sky and strike "out of the blue" more than 10 miles from the storm cloud where it was born.

The Impact of a Lightning Strike

Lightning is not only spectacular, it's dangerous. About 2,000 people are killed worldwide by lightning each year. Hundreds more survive strikes but suffer from a variety of lasting symptoms, including memory loss, dizziness, weakness, numbness, and other life-altering ailments. Strikes can cause cardiac arrest and severe burns, but 9 of every 10 people survive. The average American has about a 1 in 5,000 chance of being struck by lightning during a lifetime.

Lightning's extreme heat will vaporize the water inside a tree, creating steam that may blow the tree apart. Cars are havens from lightning-but not for the reason that most believe. Tires conduct current, as do metal frames that carry a charge harmlessly to the ground.

Many houses are grounded by rods and other protection that conduct a lightning bolt's electricity harmlessly to the ground. Homes may also be inadvertently grounded by plumbing, gutters, or other materials. Grounded buildings offer protection, but occupants who touch running water or use a landline phone may be shocked by conducted electricity.

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Contrary to the common expression, lightning can and often does strike the same place twice.

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Often occurs during spring & summer months
-most common during the afternoon and evening hours
(but can occur and any time/day)

Happens when: Moisture causes clouds, unstable(warm) air (rises), and an up-lift from something like fronts and mountains…