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Growing up on a farm, I used to love watching thunderstorms coming in, the flash of the lightning, and the rush of wind and rain. Meteorologists have classified several thunderstorm types – single cell, training muiti-cells, squall lines, mesoscale, and supercells.
A single-cell storm is what you see on a warm summer afternoon, when a single cloud may grow into a thunderstorm. They are formed from afternoon heating of the ground, which warms the air and causes it to rise. These storms may have some lightning, brief rain, and some small hail, but they usually do their thing and are done in less than an hour. Single cells typically die out after sunset.
A training thunderstorm is actually multiple thunderstorm cells, all lined up one behind the other like a train. Heavy rain is a concern from these storms, as multiple cells pass over the same area. Hail, lightning, and weak tornadoes may also accompany these storms.
A squall line looks like one very wide storm, but in this case is multiple cells lined up side by side. A rush of wind called a gust front may immediately precede the storm, and these straight line winds may reach up to 90 or 100 miles per hour in extreme cases. Brief intense rain, hail, and weak tornadoes may also be part of a squall line.
Mesoscale thunderstorms are large clusters of thunderstorms that may cover half a state. Storms of this type are most active during the nighttime, and die out by mid-morning. In some cases, they are formed from the remnants of afternoon storms or squall lines that are fired back up by a strong humid low level wind that occurs during the evening and continues to bring moisture and air into the storm. Heavy rain, hail, lightning and weak to moderate tornadoes may be included. Mesoscale systems bring a large percentage of overall precipitation to the Midwest and Plains during the growing season.
A super cell is a massive, 5- to 15-mile-wide storm that rotates. It can bring heavy rain, large hail, numerous lightning strikes, and the possibility of super tornadoes with wind speeds well over 250 miles per hour. These storms can also last for several hours, and the storms can travel over 60 miles per hour.
Whether you like watching storms or not, it is still necessary to keep informed on weather conditions, especially in the spring, when the possibility of thunderstorms is greatest.
For more information on severe weather forecasts, visit the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center at http://www.spc.noaa.gov. Storm preparedness information can be found in the U of I Extension website at http://web.extension.illinois.edu/disaster/storm/sw_thunder.html.
Duane Friend is a University of Illionois Extension educator.