The rain has to start somewhere and end somewhere. Why does it rain on one side of the street and not the other? The answer to this question is that most things have a beginning and an end. Tornadoes (with winds up to about 300 mph) can destroy all but the best-built man-made structures. Strong (up to more than 120 mph) straight-line winds associated with thunderstorms knock down trees, power lines and mobile homes. Hail up to the size of softballs damages cars and windows, and kills wildlife caught out in the open. Lightning is responsible for many fires around the world each year, and cause fatalities. Why are severe thunderstorms so dangerous? Rainfall from thunderstorms causes flash flooding, killing more people each year than hurricanes, tornadoes or lightning. Some features of thunderstorms, such as the anvil that spreads out at the top of the storm, can be seen from satellites. Doppler radars also let us see how the wind is blowing within and near the storm. Radars let us see where rain and hail are located in the storm.

In addition to actually seeing them, how are thunderstorms detected? We can see thunderstorms with a variety of tools. Is there a specific thunderstorm season? Consider contacting your local National Weather Service Forecast Office because they will be more in tune with your local climatology. The surface direction of wind varies depending on your location (northern/southern hemisphere, and even coastal/plains/mountains), and what weather patterns usually affect the area. Where warm moist air is forced to rise by hills, mountains, or areas where warm/cold or wet/dry air bump together, thunderstorms can form. What direction does the wind come from during a thunderstorm? There is no one direction the wind comes from when thunderstorms or tornadoes occur. The NOAA National Climatic Data Center maintains the official national database for weather. The Storm Prediction Center documents storm reports, but the official designation is left up to the local National Weather Service Office. The local National Weather Service office in the area of the storm conducts damage surveys from severe weather events. Learn more about NSSL field projectsв†’ Where can I find out information about a storm? Several places will have storm information. What we do: More than 100 researchers from NOAA, NSSL and 29 other organizations collaborated on a field project to discover how thunderstorms act like elevators, taking pollution, electrical activity and water-rich air from the surface and lofting it straight up into the upper troposphere. But thunderstorms are not the only way the atmosphere conducts electricity вЂ“ the solar wind and ionospheric wind play a role too. Without thunderstorms and lightning, the earth-atmosphere electrical balance would disappear in five minutes! We aren't really sure what would happen if this balance wasn't maintained. Thunderstorms help transfer the negative charges back to earth (lightning is generally negatively charged). There is always a steady current of electrons flowing upwards from the entire surface of the earth. The Earth's surface and the atmosphere conduct electricity easily вЂ“ the Earth is charged negatively and the atmosphere, positively. Thunderstorms also help keep the Earth in electrical balance. As the thunderstorm progresses, eventually the rain cools the entire process down and the energy is gone. A large amount of the thunderstorm's energy comes from the condensation process that forms the thunderstorm clouds. As the water vapor condenses it releases heat, which is a form of energy. When warm moist air meets colder drier air, the warm air rises, the water vapor condenses in the air, and forms a cloud. Supercell Why are there thunderstorms? Thunderstorms are a great way for the atmosphere to release energy.

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