It's common for many cloud tops in a thunderstorm to be higher than 55,000 feet above sea level, says Brent McRoberts of Texas A&M University. Clouds over that range belong in a special category. "That may be as high as they get over the U.S., but in other parts of the world, thunderstorm clouds can be even higher," he says. "In 1990 in the Coral Sea off eastern Australia, some nearby weather balloons measured a thunderstorm cloud to be at least 63,000 feet high. And in the northern Australia and Indonesia area, sometimes called the 'maritime or oceanic continent,' some of the highest clouds known have been reported, several measuring from 65,000 to 72,000 feet by astronauts in the space shuttle. It can happen, but it's rare to see thunderstorms reach more than 65,000 feet."
The type of cloud in a thunderstorm is called a cumulonimbus cloud. These clouds are dense and vertically developed, extending high into the atmosphere where they can produce intense thunderstorms, heavy rainfall, lightning, and sometimes even tornadoes.
The mesocyclone is typically located next to the wall cloud, in the rear portion of the thunderstorm updraft. The wall cloud is the lowering, rotating cloud that often forms at the base of a supercell thunderstorm where the mesocyclone is present.
The top of a cloud in a thunderstorm typically carries a positive charge. This positive charge builds up due to ice crystals and water droplets colliding and separating within the cloud, creating an imbalance of positive and negative charges.
The cloud type that marks the developing stage of a thunderstorm is cumulus clouds. These clouds are tall and puffy, and can grow vertically into cumulonimbus clouds, which are associated with thunderstorms.
No. A tornado is a violently rotating column of air extending from the base of a thunderstorm to the ground. A tornado is often, but not always made visible by a funnel cloud. But the tornado is not the cloud itself.
cumulonimbus
The entire thunderstorm is a cumulonimbus cloud.
Cumulonimbus
A cumulonimbus cloud/thunderstorm cloud
by cloud
A funnel cloud is a rotating column of air that extends from the base of a thunderstorm. They can be identified by their funnel-shaped appearance extending downwards from the cloud. Funnel clouds may or may not reach the ground to become tornadoes.
Communolimbus
Only in extremely rare instances. Most tsunamis; those triggered by earthquakes, landslides, and volcanic eruptions cannot reach cloud base. However, the tsunamis triggered by large asteroid impacts can be thousands of feet high and could reach up to cloud level.
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.
cumulonimbus cloud
It is a thunderstorm.
Heavy rain becomes a thunderstorm when there is thunder and lightning. This usually happens when the clouds reach a significant enough height and the updraft becomes strong enough to separated electrical charges.