Thunderstorms

Rachel Watson

10am

English Comp. 1

Rough Draft of Research Essay

4/23/13

Thunderstorms

There are different causes of thunderstorms from climate change to weather conditions. There is a wide range of thunderstorms: from the common storm, lightning storm, tornado thunderstorm, or a hail thunderstorm. The causes of each of these vary. Also the strength of the storm will vary depending on the conditions there are in the area you live. Moisture in the air and the amount of warm air rising can have a dramatic effect on the size and duration of the storm. It is difficult to talk about the causes of a thunderstorm without at least mentioning the effects they can have on the surrounding land.

There can be many causes of thunderstorms that affect the strength and length of a thunderstorm. Thunderstorms occur when warm, moist air within a rain cloud rises in large volumes and increases velocity (Gaynor Borade).The velocity and volume within the cloud becomes unstable, reacting to the similar atmosphere around the natural suspension of moisture. (Gaynor Borade).The outside temperature falls rapidly in comparison to that within the storm cloud, resulting in a warmer updraft outside. This makes the storm cloud more buoyant (Gaynor Borade). As the water vapor converts into liquid and the updraft is stoked, causing turbulence within. This trigger force causes the cloud to erupt violently, unleashing, and the electrical activity within (Gaynor Borade).

Thunderstorms can have a wide range of effects throughout the world. They can result on updrafts and downdrafts result in heavy precipitation. The storms can have an effect on the weather over a large area. Thunderstorms occur in varied force, throughout the world.

A thunderstorm can release a lot of water. When a storm moves slowly, only a small area of land receives most of the rain, and it can turn into in a flash flood. During a storm, the runoff causes streams and rivers to swell. It is estimated that about one third of all flood damage in the United States is caused by flash floods caused by thunderstorms. Large parts of water are supplied to the soil and dams. 50 to 70 percent of all precipitation in some areas comes from thunderstorms, so in these places storm rain is vital to life.

There are many different types of thunderstorms that can occur all over the world. Some are weak and some can cause a lot of damage. A better way to classify thunderstorms is to base the categories on their actual physical characteristics (Wikipedia). There are four basic types of thunderstorms single cell storms, multicell cluster storms, multicell line storms, and supercell storms.

Single cell thunderstorms last about 20-30 minutes. They usually are not strong enough to produce severe weather (Wikipedia). A true single cell storm is actually quite rare (Wikipedia). Even with separate appearing storms in weak vertical wind shear, the gust front of one cell often triggers the growth of another cell some distance away (Wikipedia). Although most single cell storms are non-severe, some single cell storms may produce brief severe weather events (Wikipedia). These storms tend to form in more unstable environments than the non-severe single cell storm (Wikipedia). Pulse severe storms have slightly stronger draft speeds and typically produce severe weather. Brief heavy rainfall and occasional weak tornadoes can also be expected, because single cell storms are poorly organized, and they seem to occur at random times and locations (Wikipedia).