GEOG 1112 Chapter 11: Thunderstorms and Tornados

• School: University of Georgia
• Department: Geography
• Course: GEOG 1112
• Professor: John Knox

Document Summary

Thunderstorm a cloud or cluster of clouds that produces thunder, lightning, rain and sometimes hail and tornados. This requires a great deal of energy that is released when saturated air rises rapidly and high into the atmosphere. Thunderstorms are associated with tall cumulonimbus clouds. Commonly identified by the anvil cloud top. The air in the anvil can sink downward to form mammatus clouds. Thunderstorms requires warm, moist air that rises. Most prevalent in regions with wartime tropical (mt) air masses, and in regions with mountains and frontal cyclones that help lift the air vertically. Crucial factors environment"s temperature, moisture, wind speed and wind direction from the ground to the tropopause. in addition to an initial lifting mechanism. Most common lifting mechanism in summertime thunderstorm development surface heating. Lifting can also occur along boundaries (fronts and dry-lines, which are boundaries separating different air masses. Cold fronts are good lifting mechanisms for thunderstorms.