ATMO 336 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Tornado Warning, Tornado Watch, Exact Sequence
14 Oct 2016
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Document Summary
A thunderstorm is simply a storm that produces lightning and thunder. Most storms are classified as single cell types. Following conditions are present for most thunderstorms: warm, humid surface air, unstable atmosphere, trigger to move air upward to the unstable level. At condensation level, latent heat is released, enhancing the buoyancy of the rising air. Much of the energy for the creation of thunderstorms comes from this latent heat. Updrafts: rising air within the cloud becomes warmer than the surrounding air and accelerates upward, bringing in more air from below. The cloud particles of liquid droplets and ice become so large that updrafts can no longer hold them up and they begin to fall. When falling, the precipitation encounters a region that is unsaturated, causing some of the liquid water and ice to evaporate on the way down. Downdraft: evaporatively cooled air that cause falling air parcels to cool and accelerate downwards when they pass through.
