A severe thunderstorm is one that produces large hail. Not that nickel and dimestuff, rather hail the size of golf balls and even baseballs capable ofshattering car windshields. Also, severe thunderstorms unleash fitful gusts ofwind, often exceeding 60 miles per hour, which is more than enough to toppletrees and cause structural damage. If you have ever seen a severe thunderstormin action, you will never forget the experience. I've been in a few over theyears and have no great desire to see any more.Severe thunderstorms are a product of great turmoil in the atmosphere, which iscreated by instability. The atmosphere becomes unstable when cooling occursaloft, while the surface air heats up. This generates huge columns of risingair, which can turn into towering thunderstorm clouds. The severity of athunderstorm is a product of its size and also how much the jet streaminteracts with it. In most cases, a strong mid-level jet is what isresponsible for destructive winds and tornadoes. However, just a suddendownburst out of a big thunderstorm cloud is enough to producemiles per hour.
In regard to the current severe weather season, things have been relativelyinactive so far. This can be attributed to one basic thing... the storm trackhas, for the most part, been pretty far south, which has been preventing warm,moist air from gaining a foothold across the Gulf States region. Without ampleheat and humidity, there is simply not enough fuel to support the developmentof large storm clouds.
This weekend, we'll see the same thing happen. A fairly vigorous storm willtrack from the southern Plains toward the Tennessee Valley, but it will lack anabundance of warm, moist air. The result will be a limited number of cases ofdamaging thunderstorms, which is a good thing.
Story by AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist John Kocet.
