EAPS 10200 Lecture 10: EAPS 102 WEEK.10 D2P2

• School: Purdue University
• Department: Earth Atmos Planetary Sci
• Course: EAPS 10200
• Professor: Professor Balloti

Document Summary

Thunderstorms: a thunderstorm is one of three severe weather types, the other two being tornadoes and hurricanes. Thunderstorms form over low pressure cyclones when warm humid air rises in an unstable environment. They are primarily made of cumulus to cumulonimbus clouds and often a series of cumulonimbus clouds: for a significant thundercloud to develop it must be fed a continuous diet of warm moist air. With each new input of warm moist air the cloud can build upward higher and higher, often to 12,000 m. these updrafts can reach 100 kph (60 mph). As the storm moves new supplies of warm moist air restock the storm and new thunderclouds develop. The lifespan of a typical thundercloud is about 1 hour. Tornadoes: a tornado is a short duration storm part of a larger cumulonimbus thundercloud. It is a violent windstorm that may reach speeds of 480 kph (300 mph).