Thunderstorms

Objectives
Identify the processes that form thunderstorms.
Compare and contrast different types of thunderstorms.
Describe the life cycle of a thunderstorm.

Vocabulary
air-mass thunderstorm
sea-breeze thunderstorm
frontal thunderstorm

Thunderstorms

Thunderstorms
At any given moment, nearly 2000 thunderstorms
are occurring around the world.
Some are capable of producing hail the size of
baseballs, swirling tornadoes, and surface winds
of more than 160 km/h.
All thunderstorms, regardless of intensity, have
certain characteristics in common.

Thunderstorms

How Thunderstorms Form

For a thunderstorm to form, three conditions
must exist.
1. There must be an abundant source of moisture
in the lower levels of the atmosphere.
2. Some mechanism must lift the air so that the
moisture can condense and release latent heat.
3. The portion of the atmosphere through which
the cloud grows must be unstable.

Thunderstorms

How Thunderstorms Form

Limits to Growth
The air in a thunderstorm will keep rising until:
1. It meets a layer of stable air that it cannot overcome
2. The rate of condensation, which diminishes with
height, is insufficient to generate enough latent heat
to keep the cloud warmer than the surrounding air
Typical thunderstorms last only about 30 minutes and
individual storms are only about 24 km in diameter.

Thunderstorms

How Thunderstorms Form

Thunderstorms

Air-Mass Thunderstorms
Thunderstorms are often classified according to
the mechanism that caused the air to rise.

An air-mass thunderstorm is a thunderstorm that

results from the air rising because of unequal
heating of Earths surface within one air mass.
Mountain thunderstorms occur when an air mass rises
as a result of orographic lifting, which involves air
moving up the side of a mountain.
Sea-breeze thunderstorms are local air-mass
thunderstorms caused, in part, by extreme temperature
differences between the air over land and the air
over water.

Thunderstorms

Air-Mass Thunderstorms

Thunderstorms

Frontal Thunderstorms
Frontal thunderstorms are thunderstorms that
are produced by advancing cold fronts and, more
rarely, warm fronts.

Cold-front thunderstorms get their initial lift

from the push of the cold air which can
produce a line of thunderstorms along the
leading edge of the cold front.
Because they are not dependent on daytime
heating for their initial lift, cold-front
thunderstorms can persist long into the night.

Thunderstorms

Stages of Development
A thunderstorm usually has three stages: the
cumulus stage, the mature stage, and the
dissipation stage.

The stages are classified according to the

direction in which the air is moving.

Thunderstorms

Stages of Development

Thunderstorms

Stages of Development
Cumulus Stage
In the cumulus stage, air starts
to rise nearly vertically upward.
Transported moisture
condenses into a visible
cloud and releases
latent heat.
As the cloud droplets
coalesce, they form larger
droplets, which eventually
fall to Earth as precipitation.

Thunderstorms

Stages of Development
Mature Stage
As precipitation falls, it cools
the air around it which
becomes more dense than the
surrounding air, so it sinks
creating downdrafts.
The updrafts and downdrafts
form a convection cell.
In the mature stage, nearly
equal amounts of updrafts and
downdrafts exist side by side in
the cumulonimbus cloud.

Thunderstorms

Stages of Development
Dissipation Stage
The supply of warm, moist air
runs out because the cool
downdrafts cool the area
from which the storm
draws energy.
Without the warm air, the
updrafts cease and
precipitation can no
longer form.
The dissipation stage is
characterized primarily by
lingering downdrafts.

Thunderstorms

Section Assessment
1. Why does there need to be an abundant source
of moisture in the lower levels of the
atmosphere for thunderstorms to form?

The moisture feeds into a thunderstorms

updrafts, releasing latent heat when it
condenses.

Thunderstorms

Section Assessment
2. What is the main cause of thunderstorm
dissipation?

The downdrafts created by a thunderstorm

eventually cut off the flow of warm, moist air
into the storm. Without the warm updrafts,
precipitation can no longer form and the
convection stops.

Thunderstorms

Section Assessment
3. Identify whether the following statements are
true or false.
______
true Latent heat is crucial in maintaining the upward
motion of a cloud.
______
false Thunderstorms are more likely to develop along
a warm front instead of a cold front.
______
true A mountain thunderstorm is an example of an
air-mass thunderstorm.
______
true In the mature stage of a thunderstorm, updrafts
are roughly equal to downdrafts.

Severe Weather

Objectives
Explain why some thunderstorms are more severe
than others.

Recognize the dangers of severe thunderstorms,

including lightning, hail, high winds, and floods.
Describe how tornadoes form.

Vocabulary
supercell
downburst
tornado
Fujita tornado intensity scale

Severe Weather

Severe Weather
Occasionally, weather events come together in
such a way that there is a continuous supply of
surface moisture.

This happens along a cold front that moves into

warmer territory and can lift and condense a
continuous supply of warm air.

Severe Weather

Severe Thunderstorms
Other factors also play a role in causing some
storms to be more severe than others.
Cold fronts are usually accompanied by upperlevel, low-pressure systems that are marked by
pools of cold air, which cause the air to become
more unstable.
When the strength of the storms updrafts and
downdrafts intensifies, the storm is considered to
be severe.

Severe Weather

Severe Thunderstorms
Supercells are self-sustaining, extremely
powerful severe thunderstorms, which are
characterized by intense, rotating updrafts.

Only about ten percent

of the roughly 100 000
thunderstorms that
occur each year in the
United States are
considered to be
severe; even fewer
become supercells.

Severe Weather

Lightning
Lightning is an electrical discharge caused by the
friction of falling and rising ice crystals within
strong drafts of a cumulonimbus cloud.
Some atoms lose electrons and become positively
charged ions, while other atoms receive the extra
electrons and become negatively charged ions.
This creates regions of air with opposite charges.
To relieve the electrical imbalance, an invisible channel
of negatively charged air, called a stepped leader,
moves from the cloud toward
the ground.

Severe Weather

Lightning
When the stepped leader
nears the ground, a
channel of positively
charged ions, called the
return stroke, rushes
upward to meet it.
The return stroke surges
from the ground to the
cloud, illuminating the
channel with about 100
million V of electricity.

Severe Weather

Lightning

Severe Weather

Lightning
The Power of Lightning
A lightning bolt heats the surrounding air to about
30 000C.
Thunder is the sound produced as this superheated air rapidly expands and contracts.
Each year in the United States, lightning accounts for about 7500 forest fires, which result in the loss of millions of acres of forest.
Lightning strikes in the United States cause a yearly average of 300 injuries and 93 deaths to humans.

Severe Weather

Lightning

Severe Weather

The Fury of the Wind

Instead of dispersing over a large area underneath
a storm, downdrafts sometimes become
concentrated in a local area.
Downbursts are violent downdrafts that are
concentrated in a local area and can contain wind
speeds of more than 160 km/h.
Macrobursts can have wind speeds of more than 200
km/h, can last up to 30 minutes, and cause a path of
destruction up to 5 km wide.
Microbursts affect areas of less than 3 km wide but can
have winds exceeding 250 km/h.

Severe Weather

Hail
Hail is precipitation in the form of balls or lumps of
ice that can do tremendous damage.
Hail forms because of two characteristics common
to thunderstorms.
Water droplets exist in the liquid state in the parts of a
cumulonimbus cloud where the temperature is actually
below freezing.
The abundance of strong updrafts and downdrafts
existing side by side within a cloud.

Severe Weather

Hail
The supercooled water droplets in the cloud freeze
on contact with other ice pellets and are caught
alternately in the updrafts and downdrafts.
The ice pellets are constantly encountering more supercooled water
droplets and growing.
Eventually they become
too heavy for the
updrafts to keep aloft
and fall to Earth as hail.

Severe Weather

Floods
When there are weak wind currents in the upper
atmosphere, weather systems and resulting
storms move slowly.
Flooding can occur when a storm dumps its rain over a limited location.
If there is abundant moisture throughout the atmosphere, the processes of condensation,
coalescence, and precipitation are much more efficient and thus produce more rainfall.
Floods are the main cause of thunderstorm-related deaths in the United States each year.

Severe Weather

Tornadoes
A tornado is a violent, whirling column of air in
contact with the ground.
Before a tornado reaches the ground, it is called
a funnel cloud.
Tornadoes are often associated with supercells.
The air in a tornado is made visible by dust and debris drawn into the swirling column, or by the
condensation of water vapor into a visible cloud.

Severe Weather

Tornadoes
A tornado forms when wind speed and direction
change suddenly with height, a phenomenon
known as wind shear.
Under the right conditions, this can produce a horizontal rotation near Earths surface.
A thunderstorms updrafts can tilt the twisting column
of wind from a horizontal to a vertical position.
Air pressure in the center drops as the rotation accelerates.
The extreme pressure gradient between the center and the outer portion of the
tornado produces the violent winds associated with tornadoes.

Severe Weather

Tornadoes

Severe Weather

Tornadoes
Tornado Classification
The Fujita tornado intensity scale classifies tornadoes
according to their path of destruction, wind speed, and duration.
The scale ranges from F0, which is characterized by winds of up to 118 km/h, to the violent F5, which can pack winds of more than 500
km/h.
Most tornadoes do not exceed the F1 category.
Only about one percent ever reach the violent categories of F4 and F5.

Severe Weather

Tornadoes
Tornado Distribution
While tornadoes can occur at any time or place, some places are more conducive to their formation.
Most tornadoes form in the spring during the late afternoon and evening, when the temperature contrasts between polar air and tropical air are the
greatest.
Tornadoes occur most frequently in a region called Tornado Alley, which extends from northern Texas through Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri.

Severe Weather

Tornadoes
Tornado Safety
In the United States, an average of 80 deaths and
1500 injuries result from tornadoes each year.
The National Weather Service issues tornado watches and warnings before a tornado actually strikes.
The agency stresses that despite advanced tracking systems, advance warnings may not be possible.
Signs of an approaching or developing tornado include the presence of dark, greenish skies, a towering wall of clouds, large hailstones, and a loud, roaring noise similar to that of a freight train.

Severe Weather

Tornadoes

Severe Weather

Section Assessment
1. Match the following terms with their definitions.
___
B supercell
___
C macroburst
___
D microburst
___
A tornado

A. a violent, whirling column of

air in contact with the ground
B. self-sustaining, extremely
powerful thunderstorms that
are characterized by intense,
rotating updrafts
C. downburst causing a path of
destruction up to 5 km wide
D. downburst causing a path of
destruction up to 3 km wide

Severe Weather

Section Assessment
2. Does cloud-to-ground describe lightning?
Why or why not?

Lightning is the illumination that you see when

the return stroke surges from the ground to the
cloud, lighting the channel of the stepped leader.
It would be better to say ground-to-cloud.

Severe Weather

Section Assessment
3. Why do so many tornadoes form in
Tornado Alley?

Large temperature contrasts occur most

frequently in the Central United States, where
cold continental polar air collides with maritime
tropical air moving northward from the Gulf
of Mexico.

Tropical Storms

Objectives
Identify where tropical cyclones originate.
Describe the life cycle of a tropical cyclone.

Recognize the dangers of hurricanes.

Vocabulary
tropical cyclone
eye
eyewall
Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale
storm surge

Tropical Storms

Tropical Storms
Tropical cyclones are large, rotating, lowpressure storms that form over water during
summer and fall in the tropics.

The strongest of these cyclonic storms are

known in the United States and other parts of
the Atlantic Ocean as hurricanes.

Tropical Storms

Tropical Cyclones
Tropical cyclones thrive on the tremendous
amount of energy in warm, tropical oceans.

This latent heat from water that has evaporated

from the ocean is released when the air begins
to rise and water vapor condenses.
Rising air creates an area of low pressure at the
ocean surface.
The cyclonic rotation of a tropical cyclone begins
as warm air moves toward the low-pressure
center to replace the air that has risen.

Tropical Storms

Tropical Cyclones
As the moving air approaches the center of the
growing storm, it rises, rotating faster and faster as
more energy is released through condensation.

Air pressure in the center of the system continues

to decrease, while surface wind speeds increase
sometimes in excess of 240 km/h.
As long as atmospheric conditions allow warm air
to be fed into the system at the surface and to be
removed from the system in the upper
atmosphere the process will continue.

Tropical Storms

Tropical Cyclones
Formation of Tropical Cyclones
Tropical cyclones require two basic conditions to form:
An abundant supply of very warm ocean water
Some sort of disturbance to lift warm air and
keep it rising

These conditions exist in all tropical oceans except the South Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean west of the South
American Coast.
They occur most frequently in the late summer and
early fall, when Earths oceans contain their greatest amount of stored heat energy.

Tropical Storms

Tropical Cyclones

Tropical Storms

Tropical Cyclones
Movement of Tropical Cyclones
Tropical cyclones move according to the wind currents that steer them.
In the deep tropics, tropical cyclones are often caught
up in subtropical high-pressure systems that are
usually present.
They move steadily toward the west, then eventually turn poleward when they reach the far edges of the
high-pressure systems.
There, they are guided by prevailing westerlies and begin to interact with midlatitude systems.

Tropical Storms

Tropical Cyclones
Stages of Tropical Cyclones
Tropical cyclones usually begin as disturbances that originate either from the ITCZ or as weak, low-pressure systems called tropical waves.
Only a small percentage these ever develop into hurricanes because conditions throughout the atmosphere must allow rising air to be
dispersed into
the upper atmosphere.

Tropical Storms

Tropical Cyclones
Stages of Tropical Cyclones

Tropical Storms

Tropical Cyclones
Stages of Tropical Cyclones
When a disturbance over a tropical ocean acquires a cyclonic circulation
around a center of low pressure, it is known as a tropical depression.
When wind speeds around the low-pressure center of
a tropical depression exceed 65 km/h, the system is called a tropical storm.
If air pressure continues to fall and winds around the center reach at least 120 km/h, the storm is officially classified as a
hurricane.

Tropical Storms

Tropical Cyclones
Stages of Tropical Cyclones
Once a hurricane, the development of a calm center of the
storm, called an eye, takes place.
The eyewall is a band immediately surrounding the eye that
contains the strongest winds in a hurricane.

Tropical Storms

Classifying Hurricanes
The Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale classifies
hurricanes according to wind speed, air pressure
in the center, and potential for property damage.
The Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale ranges from
Category 1 hurricanes to Category 5 storms,
which can have winds in excess of 155 mph.
Most of the deadliest hurricanes that strike the
United States were classified as major hurricanes.

Tropical Storms

Classifying Hurricanes
Running Out of Energy
A hurricane will last until it can no longer produce enough energy to sustain itself. This
usually
happens when:

The storm moves over land and no longer has access to the warm ocean surface from which
it draws its energy.
The storm moves over colder water.

Tropical Storms

Hurricane Hazards
Hurricanes can cause a lot of damage, particularly
along coastal areas.

Much of this damage is associated with violent

winds of the eyewall, the band about 40 to 80 km
wide that surrounds the calm eye.

Tropical Storms

Hurricane Hazards
Storm Surges
A storm surge occurs when hurricane-force winds drive a mound of ocean water,
sometimes as high as 6 m above normal sea level, toward coastal areas where it washes
over the land.

In the northern hemisphere, a storm surge occurs primarily on the right side of a storm relative to its eye, where the strongest
onshore winds occur.
Floods are an additional hurricane hazard, particularly if the storm moves over mountainous areas, where orographic lifting
enhances the upward motion of air.

Tropical Storms

Hurricane Hazards
Storm Surges

Tropical Storms

Hurricane Hazards
Hurricane Advisories
The National Hurricane Center, which is responsible
for tracking and forecasting the intensity and motion
of tropical cyclones in the western hemisphere, issues
a hurricane warning at least 24 hours before a
hurricane strikes.
The center also issues regular advisories that indicate
a storms position, strength, and movement.

Tropical Storms

Hurricane Hazards
Hurricane Advisories

Tropical Storms

Section Assessment
1. Match the following terms with their definitions.
___
A tropical depression A. a tropical cyclone with wind
speeds of at least 65 km/h
___
C hurricane
B. the band that has the
___
B eyewall
highest wind speeds in a
___
D storm surge
hurricane

C. a tropical cyclone with wind

speeds of at least 120 km/h
D. a mound of wind-driven
water that washes over
coastal lands

Tropical Storms

Section Assessment
2. What are the two main events that cause
hurricanes to weaken?

Hurricanes will weaken when they lose their

energy source or warm ocean water. This
happens when the hurricane moves over land or
an area with cooler water.

Tropical Storms

Section Assessment
3. What are the three main threats that a
hurricane poses?

The three main threats that a hurricane poses

are extreme winds, storm surges that cause
coastal flooding, and heavy rains that cause
inland flooding.

Recurring Weather

Objectives
Describe recurring weather patterns and the problems
they create.

Identify atmospheric events that cause recurring

weather patterns.

Vocabulary
drought
heat wave
cold wave
wind-chill factor

Recurring Weather

Floods and Droughts

Floods can occur when weather patterns cause
even mild storms to persist over the same area.

Droughts are extended periods of well-belownormal rainfall.

Droughts are usually the result of shifts in global
wind patterns that allow large high-pressure
systems to persist for weeks or months over
continental areas.

Recurring Weather

Floods and Droughts

Heat Waves
Heat waves, which are extended periods of above-normal temperatures, can
be formed by the same high-pressure systems that cause droughts.

As the air under a large high-pressure system sinks, it warms by compression and causes above-normal temperatures.
The high-pressure system also blocks cooler air masses from moving into the area, so there is little relief from the heat.

Recurring Weather

Floods and Droughts

Heat Waves
If the air is humid, it slows the rate of evaporation, which
diminishes the bodys ability to regulate internal temperature.
Because of the danger, the National Weather Service routinely reports the heat index.
The heat index assesses the effect of the bodys increasing difficulty in regulating its internal
temperature as relative humidity rises.

Recurring Weather

Floods and Droughts

Recurring Weather

Cold Waves
A cold wave is an extended period of belownormal temperatures.
Cold waves are brought on by large, highpressure systems of continental polar or
arctic origin.
Winter high-pressure systems are much more
influenced by the jet stream than are summer
systems and therefore rarely linger over one area.
Several polar high-pressure systems can follow
the same path and subject the same areas to
bout after bout of numbing cold.

Recurring Weather

Cold Waves
The wind-chill factor is measured by the windchill index, which estimates the heat loss from
human skin caused by the combination of cold
air and wind.

Recurring Weather

Section Assessment
1. What is the primary cause of a drought?
Droughts are usually the result of shifts in
global wind patterns that allow high-pressure
systems to persist for weeks or months over
continental areas.

Recurring Weather

Section Assessment
2. What would the heat index be if the air
temperature is 90F with a 60 percent
relative humidity?

The heat index would be 100F.

Recurring Weather

Section Assessment
3. Which type of air masses are usually
responsible for cold waves?

Cold waves are caused by air masses of

continental polar or arctic origin.

Chapter Resources Menu

Study Guide
Section 13.1
Section 13.2
Section 13.3
Section 13.4

Chapter Assessment
Image Bank

Section 13.1 Study Guide

Section 13.1 Main Ideas

For a thunderstorm to occur, there must be abundant
moisture in the lower levels of the atmosphere and a
mechanism to lift the moisture so it can condense. In
addition, the air must be unstable so that the growing
cloud will continue to rise.

Thunderstorms are classified according to the

mechanism that caused the air to rise. In an air-mass
thunderstorm, the cloud rose because of unequal
heating of Earths surface within one air mass. In a
frontal thunderstorm, the air rose because it was pushed
up by an advancing air mass.

Section 13.2 Study Guide

Section 13.2 Main Ideas

Lightning is produced when an advancing stepped leader
unites with an upward-moving return stroke. Thunder is
the sound made by the rapid expansion of air around the
lightning bolt as a result of extreme heating of the
lightning channel.

Thunderstorms can damage property and cause loss

of life. The hazards of thunderstorms include lightning,
violent winds, hail, floods, and tornadoes.
The Fujita tornado intensity scale classifies tornadoes
according to wind speed, path of destruction, and
duration.

Section 13.3 Study Guide

Section 13.3 Main Ideas

Tropical cyclones derive their energy from the evaporation
of warm ocean water and the release of heat.

The Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale classifies hurricanes

according to intensity.
Hurricane hazards include violent winds, floods, and
storm surges. The National Hurricane Center tracks
hurricanes and issues advance warnings to help reduce
loss of life.

Section 13.4 Study Guide

Section 13.4 Main Ideas

Examples of persistent weather events include floods,
droughts, cold waves, and heat waves.
The heat index assesses the impact of humidity
combined with excessive heat on the human body. The
wind-chill index estimates the heat loss from human skin
caused by a combination of cold air and wind.

Chapter Assessment

Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following states experiences the
highest number of thunderstorm days annually?
a. Oklahoma

c. Florida

b. Tennessee

d. Iowa

Almost the entire state of Florida experiences more than

70 thunderstorm days annually.

Chapter Assessment

Multiple Choice
2. The ____ causes the illumination that
you see as lightning.
a. stepped leader

c. channel

b. return stroke

d. thunder

The stepped leader is the invisible channel of

negatively charged air that moves from the cloud
toward the ground. The return stroke rushes upward
from the ground to meet it, illuminating the channel
with about 100 million V of electricity.

Chapter Assessment

Multiple Choice
3. Which classification on the Fujita tornado
intensity scale represents a strong tornado?
a. F0

c. F3

b. F1

d. F5

F0 and F1 are classified as weak tornadoes. F2 and F3

are classified as strong tornadoes. F4 and F5 are
classified as violent tornadoes.

Chapter Assessment

Multiple Choice
4. Which of the following areas is least likely to be
hit by a hurricane or typhoon?
a. western Africa
b. eastern United States
c. southern Japan
d. eastern India
As a general rule, the most likely areas to be hit by a
hurricane are on the eastern side of continents.
Australia is the exception; both its east and west
coasts are vulnerable.

Chapter Assessment

Multiple Choice
5. Cold waves are caused by ____.
a. high-pressure systems
b. low-pressure systems
c. mT air masses
d. cT air masses
Cold waves are brought on by large high-pressure
systems that originate in the polar regions.

Chapter Assessment

Short Answer
6. Explain why cold-front thunderstorms can last
through the night?

Cold-front thunderstorms get their initial lift from

the push of cold air. They are not dependent on
daytime heating. The thunderstorm can persist
as long as the flow of moist, warm air into it is
not disrupted.

Chapter Assessment

Short Answer
7. What is wind shear and why is it important in the
formation of tornadoes?

Wind shear is when wind speed and direction

change suddenly with height. This can produce
a horizontal rotation near Earths surface. If this
occurs close to the thunderstorms updrafts the
twisting column of wind can be tilted from a
horizontal to vertical position.

Chapter Assessment

True or False
8. Identify whether the following statements are true
or false.
______
true Tornadoes can occur virtually anywhere
on Earth.
______
false Typical thunderstorms last about two hours.
______
true High instability in the atmosphere limits
thunderstorms.
______
true Air-mass thunderstorms generally occur during
mid-afternoon.
______
false Tropical disturbances have a cyclonic
circulation.

Image Bank

Chapter 13 Images

Image Bank

Chapter 13 Images

Image Bank

Chapter 13 Images

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