What is a thunderstorm?

Thunderstorm is a kind of local convective weather accompanied by lightning strike and lightning. It must be produced in strong cumulonimbus clouds, so it is often accompanied by strong showers or heavy rains, sometimes accompanied by hail and tornadoes, and belongs to a strong convective weather system. Cumulonimbus clouds that form thunderstorms develop vigorously, and there are often ice crystals on the upper part of the clouds. The attachment of ice crystals, the breaking of water droplets and air convection make clouds generate charges. The distribution of charge in the cloud is very complicated, but generally speaking, the upper part of the cloud is mainly positive charge, the middle and lower part of the cloud is mainly negative charge, and there is a small positive charge area in the strong updraft in front of the lower part of the cloud. Therefore, there is a potential difference between the top and bottom of the cloud. When the potential difference reaches a certain level, discharge will occur, which is the usual lightning phenomenon. In the process of discharge, the temperature in the flash path suddenly rises, which makes the air volume expand rapidly, thus generating shock waves and leading to strong lightning. When the clouds are very low, sometimes a discharge between clouds can be formed, which is lightning strike. Therefore, thunderstorm is the product of atmospheric instability, and it is the general name of cumulonimbus clouds and their accompanying disastrous weather. The duration of thunderstorms is generally short, and the life history of a single thunderstorm is generally less than 2 hours. There are more thunderstorms in the south of China than in the north, and there are more thunderstorms in the mountains than in the plains. Most of them appear in summer and autumn, and only occasionally in southern China in winter. Thunderstorms usually occur in the afternoon. At night, due to the radiation cooling of the cloud top, the temperature stratification in the cloud becomes unstable, and it can also cause thunderstorms, which are called night thunderstorms.

Thunderstorm is a discharge phenomenon in the atmosphere, usually accompanied by showers, and sometimes there are strong convective weather such as local strong winds and hail. Severe thunderstorm sometimes brings disasters, such as lightning endangering personal safety, direct damage to household appliances and computer rooms by lightning or induced lightning, and sometimes fires.