Ordinary thunderstorm cell
Towering cumulus stage
Figure on left taken from Mesoscale Meteorology and Forecasting (pub. Peter S. Ray (1986)) and originally published by Byers and Braham (1949)
|
||
| There are three types of thunderstorms. All thunderstorms have
three stages - tower cumulus, mature and dissipating. However, how
storms organize as they go from the towering cumulus to the mature
stage, in many cases determines the amount of severe weather and
rainfall associated with a particular storm.
The most common thunderstorm is the ordinary thunderstorm. The first stage of the thunderstorm is the towering cumulus stage. In this stage, the thunderstorm is dominated by rising warm and moist air. This results in the development of reflectivity at mid-level of the atmosphere as precipitation particles begin to form. On radar (right), the thunderstorm will have relatively high reflectivity at mid-levels with little or no reflectivity apparent at low levels. No precipitation will fall during this stage. |
