Weather Flash: How does a thunderstorm form?

WASHINGTON ( DC News Now ) — During the warmer months, we tend to see more explosive thunderstorms that produce hail, tornadoes, and gusty winds.

There are three main stages of a thunderstorm: the development/cumulus stage, the mature stage, and the dissipating stage.

But what are the ingredients needed to fuel these storms? Well, we start with four main ingredients: instability, moisture, a lifting mechanism, and wind shear.

Cumulus Stage : During the day, the sun heats up the earth’s surface, which is then transferred back into the atmosphere (convection). The water vapor from the heat rises, cools, and releases the heat, which then condenses and forms a cloud. This is considered the first stage of a thunderstorm, called The Development or Culumus Stage. During this stage, there is little to no precipitation. And the cumulus clouds continue to rise, creating an updraft. An updraft is a column of rising air.

Mature Stage: The updraft will continue to grow to the point where the cloud can no longer hold the moisture. At this time, precipitation begins to fall out of the cloud. This could be rain, hail, or grapuel, and a downdraft has formed. A downdraft is when a column of downward-pushing air. The mature stage of the thunderstorm is when we could see the storm turn severe. Heavy rainfall, gusty winds, gust fronts, frequent lightning, and tornadoes are seen during this stage of the thunderstorm.

Dissipating Stage: Eventually, the storm is overwhelmed by the amount of precipitation that is falling out, and the updraft begins to dissipate, weakening the storm. The gust front cuts off the warm, moist air that is feeding the storm. Tornadoes also tend to dissipate during this stage due to the cut-off of energy. Rainfall begins to decrease. However, the lightning threat will still be possible.

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