Basic Weather

A sting jet is a narrow core of violent winds that sometimes form within the rapidly intensifying North Atlantic and North Pacific extratropical cyclones, developing powerful windstorms towards the ground. …

How high into the sky can thunderstorms develop – what are the highest even measured thunderstorms? The strongest updrafts reach the tropopause and produce overshooting tops. The highest storms in …

Mammatus clouds form on the underside of a thunderstorm’s anvil. Their name comes from the Latin word mamma, meaning “udder” or “breast”. They appear as pouch-like structures protruding from underneath …

A back-sheared anvil is the expression for a cumulonimbus anvil that spreads against (upwind) into relatively strong winds (jet stream) aloft. Anvil vs. wind As the anvil is forming, it …

Overshooting tops develop on thunderstorms that have particularly strong updrafts. Overshooting tops typically develop on Cumulonimbus capillatus incus clouds. The updraft punches through the equilibrium level (and thus the anvil), …

In this section, we are going to take a general look at thunderstorms. What is a typical thunderstorm? We will take a thunderstorm apart into its basic components and how …

Convection forms distinct types of clouds. Convective clouds are divided into two types (genera): cumulus and cumulonimbus. Each successive type and species display more vertical development as a result of …

Initiation of convection   On a warm day, convection begins when the air close to the surface warms enough to become buoyant and start rising. This process is called free …

Atmospheric instability is a condition where the Earth’s atmosphere is generally considered to be unstable. As air near the ground heats, it becomes more and more unstable and becomes more …

The warmer air has a lower density than colder air. This makes it buoyant, making it rise. As the air parcels are rising, the moisture this air contains begins to …