The clouds usually are fairly restricted in height, but can sometimes extend upwards to much higher altitudes when they become known as cumulonimbus clouds. These are very large and can extend to 12000 metres or higher. At base level, the cloud is made up of water droplets but the top of the cloud is made up of ice crystals. Cumulonimbus produce severe weather such as heavy rain, hail, thunderstorms and tornadoes.
A cumulonimbus cloud can produce rain or hail depending on the strength of updrafts within the cloud. If the updrafts are strong enough to carry water droplets high into the cloud where they freeze, hailstones may form. If the updrafts are not as strong, the water droplets will fall as rain.
Inside a cumulonimbus cloud, there are updrafts that carry water droplets to colder altitudes where they freeze into hailstones. These hailstones can grow as they move up and down in the cloud, eventually becoming heavy enough to fall to the ground as hail. At the same time, the cloud produces rain from the water droplets that don't freeze into hailstones and are too heavy to remain in the cloud.
The clouds usually are fairly restricted in height, but can sometimes extend upwards to much higher altitudes when they become known as cumulonimbus clouds. These are very large and can extend to 12000 metres or higher. At base level, the cloud is made up of water droplets but the top of the cloud is made up of ice crystals. Cumulonimbus produce severe weather such as heavy rain, hail, thunderstorms and tornadoes.
Inside a cumulonimbus cloud, water droplets and ice particles coexist at different altitudes due to varying temperatures. As the particles collide and merge, they grow in size. Rain forms when the particles become heavy enough to fall. Hail forms when strong updrafts lift the particles back up into colder regions where they accumulate more ice layers before eventually becoming heavy enough to fall as hailstones.
Cumulonimbus clouds form when warm moist air rises rapidly, creating a tall and vertically developed cloud. Within the cloud, strong updrafts and downdrafts keep water droplets and ice particles circulating, causing them to collide and merge. In regions with strong updrafts, rain forms from the merging droplets, while hailstones can form in areas of strong updrafts where supercooled water freezes onto ice particles.
Updrafts in cumulonimbus systems can cause some rain drops to rise up. They reach high altitudes where the temperatures are low enough for the droplet to freeze. They can then fall, collecting a layer of water on the outside, then rise again to form a larger hail stone. Eventually the hailstone is too large for the updraft to raise it. But away from the core of the updraft, the condensed raindrops can fall as normal rain.
Cumulonimbus clouds are typically associated with thunderstorms. These tall, dense clouds can reach high altitudes and are known for their anvil shape. They often bring heavy rainfall, lightning, and thunder.
Cumulonimbus clouds are large, towering clouds that can extend high into the atmosphere. They often have a flat anvil-shaped top and are associated with thunderstorms, heavy rain, lightning, and sometimes hail. They can appear dark and menacing, with a bubbling or cauliflower-like appearance.
Not at all. Rain is well...water. Hail is ice. It is much harder than snow and can get quite large.
Rain, snow, sleet, and hail, Nature's elements set sail. Each unique, yet part of the same, Dancing together in a poetic, wild game.
rain wets sleet bites hail stings Snow kiss
A thunderstorm cloud is a type of rain cloud that produces thunder and lightning due to the presence of strong updrafts and downdrafts within the cloud. While rain clouds can produce precipitation in the form of rain, they do not necessarily have the same intense vertical movement and electrical activity as thunderstorm clouds.