-A column of rotating wind over water that has characteristics of dust devil and tornado.
-or simply a tornado over water.
Anvil
Top of a thunderstorm
Microburst
a stong localized downdraft(dowburst) less than 4km wide that occurs beneath thunderstorms.
Return stroke
The luminous lightning stroke that propagates upward from the earth to the base of a cloud.
Wall Cloud
An area of rotating clouds that extends beneath a supercell thunderstorm and from which a funnel cloud may apppear.
Where do the most thuderstorms occur?
Florida
Gust Front
a boundary that separates a cold downdraft of a thuderstorm from warm, humid surface air. on the surface its passage resembles that of a cold front.
Stepped Leader
An initial discharge of electrons that proceeds intermttently toward the ground in a series of steps in a cloud-to-ground lightning stroke.
Mesoscale Convective Complex (MCC)
A large organized covective weather system comprised of a number of individual thunderstorms. the size of an MCC an b 1000 times larger than an indibidual ordinary cell thunderstorm.
-or simply: a large group of t-storms that organize into a long lasting weather system
Thunder
the sound due to rapidly expanding gases along the channel of a lighning discharge.
- or simply rapid heating of air near lightning.
Cumulus
First stage of a thunderstorm
Where do the most Tornados occur?
Oklahoma
Funnel Cloud
-Afunnel-shaped cloud of condensed water,usually extending from the base of a cumuliform cloud. the rapidly rotating air of the funnel is not in contact with th ground.
- A tornado that has not touched the ground
Squall Line
a line of thunderstorms that form along a cold front or out ahead of it.
F5
strongest tornado
Mature Stage
-Cloud contains both updraft and downdraft.
- Second stage of a thunderstorm
Entrainment
-the transport of cold dry air by the wind into the side of a developing thunderstorm.
-leads to the formation of the downdraft.
What is the life cycle of a thunderstorm?
1.Cumulus stage OR growth stage
2.Mature stage
3.Dissipating stage
what are the 3 conditions that a thunderstorm can have?
-damaging winds of 58 mph(microburst)
-large hail(over 3/4)
-tornado
-also have heavy rain, frequent lightning
supercell
-a large, long-lasting thunderstorm with a single violently rotaing updraft.
-this can lead to the formation of tornadoes.
what is the difference between the fujita scale and the saffir-simpson scale?
the fujita scale is for messuring tonadoes and the saffir scale is for messuring hurricans.