Life Cycle of a Thunderstorm, the building block of all thunderstorms is the thunderstorm cell. The thunderstorm cell has a distinct life-cycle that lasts about 30 minutes.
How does the life cycle of a thunderstorm is form?
There are certain atmospheric “ingredients” that are necessary to form a thunderstorm: Moisture: water temperature plays a large role in how much moisture is added to the atmosphere. Evaporation is higher in warm ocean currents and therefore puts more moisture into the atmosphere as compared to the cold ocean currents at the same latitude., Instability: an unstable air mass is characterized by warm moist air near the surface and cold dry air aloft. Lifting mechanism: initiates the up motion, something that will give the air a nudge upward. This upward nudge is a direct result of
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The cloud edges during this stage are sharp and distinct, indicating that the cloud is composed primarily of water droplets. The process continues and works to form a towering cumulus cloud. The convective cloud continues to grow up, eventually growing above the freezing level where super cooled water droplets. Precipitation begins to form via the Bergeron process once the air rises above the freezing level. Falling precipitation and cool air entrainment from the environment start the initiation of cool downdrafts, which leads to the second stage. Mature stage The downdrafts are initiated by the down drag of falling precipitation. The downdraft is strengthened by evaporative cooling, as the rain falling with the downdraft enters drier air below the cloud base and evaporates. This cold descending air in the downdraft will often reach the ground before the precipitation. As the mature-stage thunderstorm develops, the cumulus cloud continues to increase in size, height and width. Cloud to ground lightning usually begins when the precipitation first falls from the cloud base. During this phase of the life cycle, the top of the