CLICKERS We would not expect a vertical motion or lifting along frontal boundaries all of the following are required for severe thunderstorm development vertical wind shear a source of moisture a mechanism to trigger an updraft a conditionally unstable atmosphere solar heating of the surface is the primary mechanism that triggers the updraft of an airmass thunderstorm airmass thunderstorms would be most likely to form far from any frontal boundaries at 4 00PM airmass thunderstorms tend to occur in environments where the winds do not increase substantially with height wind shear is a key environmental condition for severe thunderstorm formation because strong winds cause the updraft to tilt and separate from the downdraft allowing the inflow of warm moist air to continue to feed the storm cold pool the accumulation of rain cooled air near the surface under a thunderstorm a thunderstorm s anvil cloud is composed of ice crystals a gust front develops when cool air generated by evaporation of rain within the downdrafts spreads outward away from the thunderstorm after reaching the surface you are outdoors in spring in the central plains a supercell thunderstorm is traveling from southwest to northeast and passes directly over you this is the order you would observe the different precipitation types virga light rain moderate rain heavy rain hail a mechanism to trigger the thunderstorm updraft is required for a sever thunderstorm to form but is not required for a non severe thunderstorm to form supercell rotation develops as a result of tilting and stretching the rear flank gust front moves around the low pressure center associate with supercell thunderstorms analogously to a cold front in an extratropical cyclone mesocyclone refers to the rotating region of a supercell thunderstorm a supercell thunderstorm develops along a dry line associated with a cyclone an EF4 tornado emerges from the supercell a severe storm spotter observes suction vortices a suction vortex has the strongest winds within this weather system on a radar radial velocity you would be able to identify the mesocyclone signature associated with a tornadic supercell an EF1 tornado would be weak whereas an EF5 tornado would be devastating these statements about tornadoes are all true CLICKERS F5 tornadoes occur rarely but stay on the ground the longest and cause the most fatalities the most likely time to observe a tornado would be between 5 00 and 6 00 p m during the month of May weak tornadoes F0 and F1 are more common than stronger tornadoes F4 and F5 since the conditions to produce these weak tornadoes are often found in supercells tornadoes are common in the United States because of its unique geography including the Rockies to the west which help cyclones form the Gulf of Mexico which provides heat and moisture and the plains of central Canada where the cold air originates the storm prediction center would issue a severe thunderstorm watch when conditions are favorable for the development of thunderstorms that contain strong winds hail frequent lightening heavy rain and possible tornadoes there is little lightening associated with hurricanes because the updraft velocities in hurricanes are too small to form graupel and hail you should stay away from plumbing electrical equipment corded phones and windows if you are in a house or apartment during a severe lightening storm to avoid shocking situations if you are trapped in an open field as a severe thunderstorm with frequent lightening is approaching you should get on tiptoes and stoop down low hurricane the term used to describe a strong tropical cyclone that occurs over the eastern pacific ocean meteorologists classify the strength of storms in the tropics by the maximum sustained wind speed the eye is located in the center of a hurricane and is generally cloud free the eyewall of the hurricane is defined by a ring of deep convective clouds the storm surge cause by a hurricane will be most intense on the right side as the hurricane advances if a hurricane is moving west the side of the storm that would have the strongest winds and highest storm surge would be the northwest side