Cumulonimbus cloud


Cumulonimbus is a dense, towering, vertical cloud, typically forming from water vapor condensing in the lower troposphere that builds upward carried by powerful buoyant air currents. Above the lower portions of the cumulonimbus the water vapor becomes ice crystals, such as snow and graupel, the interaction of which can lead to hail and to lightning formation, respectively.
When causing thunderstorms, these clouds may be called thunderheads. Cumulonimbus can form alone, in clusters, or along squall lines. These clouds are capable of producing lightning and other dangerous severe weather, such as tornadoes, hazardous winds, and large hailstones. Cumulonimbus progress from overdeveloped cumulus congestus clouds and may further develop as part of a supercell. Cumulonimbus is abbreviated as Cb.

Description

Towering cumulonimbus clouds are typically accompanied by smaller cumulus clouds. The cumulonimbus base may extend several kilometres across, or be as small as several tens of metres across, and occupy low to upper altitudes within the troposphere - formed at altitude from approximately. Normal peaks usually reach to as much as, with unusually high ones typically topping out around and extreme instances claimed to be as high as or more. Well-developed cumulonimbus clouds are characterized by a flat, anvil shaped top, caused by wind shear or inversion at the equilibrium level near the tropopause. The shelf of the anvil may precede the main cloud's vertical component for many kilometres, and be accompanied by lightning. Occasionally, rising air parcels surpass the equilibrium level and form an overshooting top culminating at the maximum parcel level. When vertically developed, this largest of all clouds usually extends through all three cloud regions. Even the smallest cumulonimbus cloud dwarfs its neighbors in comparison.

Subtypes

Species

  • Cumulonimbus calvus: cloud with puffy top, similar to cumulus congestus which it develops from; under the correct conditions it can become a cumulonimbus capillatus.
  • Cumulonimbus capillatus: cloud with cirrus-like, fibrous-edged top.

    Types

  • Cumulonimbus flammagenitus : rapidly growing cloud forming from non-atmospheric heat and condensation nuclei sources such as wildfires and volcanic eruptions.

    Supplementary features

Accessory clouds
  • Arcus : low, horizontal cloud formation associated with the leading edge of thunderstorm outflow.
  • Pannus: accompanied by a lower layer of fractus species cloud forming in precipitation.
  • Pileus : small cap-like cloud over parent cumulonimbus.
  • Velum: a thin horizontal sheet that forms around the middle of a cumulonimbus.
    Supplementary features
  • Incus : cumulonimbus with flat anvil-like cirriform top caused by wind shear where the rising air currents hit the inversion layer at the tropopause.
  • Mamma or mammatus: consisting of bubble-like protrusions on the underside.
  • Tuba: column hanging from the cloud base which can develop into a funnel cloud or tornado. They are known to drop very low, sometimes just above ground level.
  • Flanking line is a line of small cumulonimbus or cumulus generally associated with severe thunderstorms.
  • An overshooting top is a dome that rises above the thunderstorm; it is associated with severe weather.
    Precipitation-based supplementary features
  • Rain: precipitation that reaches the ground as liquid, often in a precipitation shaft.
  • Virga: precipitation that evaporates before reaching the ground.

    Effects

Cumulonimbus storm cells can produce torrential rain of a convective nature and flash flooding, as well as straight-line winds. Most storm cells die after about 20 minutes, when the precipitation causes more downdraft than updraft, causing the energy to dissipate. If there is sufficient instability and moisture in the atmosphere, however, the outflowing moisture and gusts from one storm cell can lead to new cells forming just a few kilometres from the former one a few tens of minutes later or in some cases hundreds of kilometres away many hours later. This process cause thunderstorm formation to last for several hours or even over multiple days. Cumulonimbus clouds can also occur as dangerous winter storms called "thundersnow" which are associated with particularly intense snowfall rates and with blizzard conditions when accompanied by strong winds that further reduce visibility. However, cumulonimbus clouds are most common in tropical regions and are also frequent in moist environments during the warm season in the middle latitudes. A dust storm caused by a cumulonimbus downburst is a haboob.

Aviation

Cumulonimbus are a notable hazard to aviation mostly due to potent wind currents but also reduced visibility and lightning, as well as atmospheric icing and hail if flying inside the cloud. Within and in the vicinity of thunderstorms there is significant turbulence and clear-air turbulence, respectively. Wind shear within and under a cumulonimbus is often intense with downbursts being responsible for many accidents in earlier decades before training and technological detection and nowcasting measures were implemented. A small form of downburst, the microburst, is the most often implicated in crashes because of their rapid onset and swift changes in wind and aerodynamic conditions over short distances. Most downbursts are associated with visible precipitation shafts, however, dry microbursts are generally invisible to the naked eye. At least one fatal commercial airline accident was associated with flying through a tornado.

Life cycle or stages

In general, cumulonimbus require moisture, an unstable air mass, and a lifting force in order to form. Cumulonimbus typically go through three stages: the developing stage, the mature stage, and the dissipation stage. The average thunderstorm has a diameter and a height of approximately. Depending on the conditions present in the atmosphere, these three stages take an average of 30 minutes to go through.