Imagine yourself taking a stroll on a warm summer day. The sun is shining,
birds are chirping, a soft wind blows and the foliage in the trees swings to its rhythm.
And then, out of nowhere, wind gusts, the sky darkens
and the rain begins to pour softly on your skin.
Not long after, the sky is enlightened by luminous flashes resonating in a seemingly deafening din.
You, my friends, are witnessing a thunderstorm.
Fellow youtubers, Hello !
We've all experienced at least once, in our lives, a similar situation.
Some fear it to the point of bewilderment while others contemplate storms with a sense of wonder.
It is commonly accepted and known that thunderstorms are recurring phenomenon during the summer period
but few people actually know how and why they occur.
A thunderstorm takes root in a particular type of cloud: a cumulonimbus.
This guy is, sort of, the hulk of the clouds, a real beast!
His width goes up from 3 to 9 Miles large
and his height sometimes goes up to 15 miles high.
On top of that, putting aside its hulk-like dimensions, he also acts as a natural hoover
able to breathe in 700 000 tons of air and 9 000 tons of steam
while spitting out 4 000 tons of water
as rain, snow or hail (depending on the weather conditions) and he does that… every second!
And If its name does not ring any bell, its peculiar anvil shape might be more familiar to you.
That's all well and good but how does Mother Nature gives birth to such a monster?
Well, understanding the functioning of this cloud is actually pretty simple.
The sun heats the air on the ground which dilates itself until it becomes lighter than the air layer above,
the dilated air then rises and, if its dampness level allows it, condensates to form water droplets.
This is how cumulus type clouds are created.
One more condition is required for a cumulus to become a proper cumulonimbus and that is to evolve in an unstable atmosphere.
This physical disorder fosters the condensation process as it intensifies vertical air movements therefore allowing the cloud to grow bigger and to gain altitude.
Then when the cloud is high enough and pressure drops low enough: droplets turn into ice crystals and there we have it : a cumulonimbus.
Looking at the bigger picture, 3 different kinds of Storm exist.
First of, we have "unicellular" storms. The most common type of storm out there
characterized by its mild rain downpours and average gusts of wind. Their lifespan varies from 30 to 60 minutes.
Unicellular storms, helped by wind currents, sometimes align giving birth to our second type of storm: "multicellular" storms
Their lifespan equals to the total amount of all of its unicellular lifespans added on top of each other and can, as a consequence, survive for several hours.
Its characteristics are that of a unicellular storm, only stronger: strong wind gusts, heavy downpours, hail and sometimes even small tornadoes.
And then, at last, the third and bigger storm specie: "supercellular" ones.
Those storms are responsible for hail storms, torrential rain downpours, blizzard and violent tornadoes sometimes turning into hurricanes.
And those storms are as tenacious as destructive as they can live up to 6 hours.
To explain this longevity, we must understand storms' survival mechanisms.
For a cumulonimbus to subsist and maintain its composure, it needs to be able to breath in huge quantities of damp and hot air from the ground level.
A "unicellular" storm for example, because of the rain it generates, cools down the air right underneath him therefore cutting down its own source of power: hot air
In other words the Storm suffocates its own self.
In a "supercellular" storm on the other hand, the big ass cloud's logistic is quite different
and the "raining" and "breathing" processes occur in different areas of the cloud
thus preventing the hot air from suffering sudden temperature losses and allowing the cloud to sustain for a much longer amount of time
" It's all good and all dude but .. how do you explain lightning and thunder? "
" Patience my friend, I was about to tackle the topic "
Alright, so… lightning bolts, where does that come from?
It is explained by strong vertical air movements:
gusts of wind in storms often top the 80mph speed bar causing the cloud's water and ice particles to jostle and clash with each other.
This particle squabble entails chafing which then creates electricity.
What about the shape of lightning bolts? Is It possible to map and anticipate their directions and behaviors? We'll focus on cloud-to-ground lightning bolts
(cloud-to-cloud lightning bolts have a somehow different pattern though quite similar to the one I am about to explain)
It is possible because lightning bolts always go through the same 3 step pattern:
First off, there is a "tracker", a sort of device naturally attracted by electricity which movement is fueled by the air currentst inside the storm,
this tracker which contains a weak electrical load hops freely inside the cloud's structure at the god-like speed of 450 Kmph.
Freely is an inexact term as the tracker (which is an electrically loaded device, let's not forget)
actually follows the path that offers the lesser electrical resistance, proving once again nature's love for optimization.
Then, in order to respond to the imminent approach of ( - ) electrically loaded particles reaching down from the cloud,
( + ) electrically loaded particles from the ground gather in one same spot, usually a high and tip-shaped one.
A "tracker" with identical properties as the first one is propelled from this spot, though carrying an antagonist electrical load.
These two opposed lovers meet and join hands less than 100 meters from the ground
and their reunion triggers an electrical discharge cracking through the air at the speed of 224000Kmph.
The sudden warming of the air and its consequent dilatation then provokes a shock wave turning into a sound wave: the crack of thunder.
There you go. That will be all concerning storms for now.
I hope you enjoyed this video.
Before leaving you guys, I wanted to introduce GeoRapide's channel.
Whether or not you like geography, I strongly advise you to check his stuff out,
his videos are well crafted and he explains how and why geography and social problematics throughout the world are often intimately linked. Go check it out!
Do not forget to hit the "thumbs up" button if you liked this video, it helps my channel get some recognition and it's always likable to have some feedback on one's own work.
Do not hesitate to comment and/or add informations if you are a storm expert to clarify some matters.
Go check out my latest video on snow avalanches and until next time, keep learning!
Bye.
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