Why does it thunder when it's sunny?

Answer 1

Thunderstorms occur because there are temperature differences in the atmosphere. Imagine a car window. As it is cold outside and warm inside, condensation begins to build on the windows of the warmer section of the car. Now use this in a larger perspective clouds for example. Clouds build in this manner until enough moisture is picked up to become a storm. Then lightning/thunder becomes possible.

Now we can't forget the 'lifting motion' needed to produce a thunderstorm. We call this an updraft. This causes both air masses to collide and cause a thunderstorm. Keep in mind that updrafts can be continuous during a thunderstorm and are also the birthplaces of hail and tornadoes.

Finally, most thunderstorms are driven by fronts (cold, warm, occluded, stationary...). This is where the initial collision of different air masses occurs. Keep in mind that cold air is denser than warm.

Answer 2

It only thunders if there is lightning and because of the warmer weather there is a greater chance for thunderstorms during rain as opposed to a snow storm. It can thunder in a snow storm if there is lightning associated though.

Answer 3

Rain falls typically from either stratus (or 'layer') clouds, or from cumulus (or 'heap') clouds. Stratus clouds usually cover most or all of the sky and block the sunlight. 'Stratus' comes from a Latin word that means 'layer'. Rain that falls from stratus clouds is usually a longer lasting drizzle-type of rain.

Cumulus clouds, on the other hand, are clouds that form as heaps or 'piles', and may simply randomly fill the sky, often with breaks in between that allow the sun to shine through them. The word 'cumulus' comes from a Latin word, which means 'pile' or 'heap'. Rain that falls from cumulus (or cumulonimbus, thunderstorm clouds) is often of the showery variety. Most cumulus clouds only last a fairly short period of time. They form when warm, moist air at the surface rises and colls and condenses, like steam.

As long as warm, moist air feeds into these clouds, they are able to continue to grow until they reach a point where the air at the top becomes too cool to allow the cloud to grow any taller. Then, as condensation occurs, the moisture droplets in the cloud coalesce into rain drops, which begin to fall. As the rain falls out of the cloud it brings rain cooled air down with it. Then the cloud begins to draw in the cooler, rainy air which can't rise to feed the cloud. Soon this "updraft" gets cut off and the cloud dissipates. Not all cumulus clouds produce rain, of course, but if the updraft/downdraft process is strong enough and there is enough moisture present in the air, then rain can develop.

Once in a while, an energetic single cumulus cloud can build in air that's got a lot of moisture, enough for it to produce some rain, even though there aren't widespread storms around. This happens more often in humid summer weather, and we call these 'air mass showers'. If there aren't a LOT of clouds around, or they don't completely fill the sky, an air mass shower can happen from one or more of these scattered clouds, even though the sun is shining.

Answer 4

i guess it thunders when it snows because the air pressure is rare at times and like sometimes the air pressure gets high like uo to early 60 so some times it slips and does that but rarely it usually is cold in the winter time.

Answer 5

The storm cloud Cumulonimbus has immensely strong updrafts, which can lift water droplets high enough to freeze into ice crystals. The same updrafts then lift rain drops high enough to freeze into hailstones, which then become too heavy to be supported by the updraft.

The hailstones then fall through the rising ice crystals, and colliding with the ice crystals, knocking electrons off the ice crystals, so the crystals gain a positive charge. The ice crystals are light enough to stay at the top of the cloud. The electrons stay with the hailstones, so they get a negative charge. Eventually, the charge difference is so enormous between the positive cloud top and the negative cloud base, or the cloud base and the positive ground, that a massive discharge of electricity occurs, lightning.

Lightning heats the surrounding air to over five times hotter than the surface of the sun, causing it to expand rapidly and push the cooler air out in all directions, causing a shock wave that we hear as thunder.

I hope this answers your question!

Answer 6

the friction of 2 clouds rubbing together produces lightning with a sound of thunder

Answer 7

There will always be a thunderstorm overhead if it is hailing. However, these storms often form in the late afternoon, so it is quite possible for sunlight to come in from the side.

Answer 8

Thunder is caused by lightning that splits the air. When the air comes back together it makes a noise.

Answer 9

The thunder cloud is formed, as a result of the ground being heated by the sun, causing huge local updraughts, created by the warm air rising.