I remember when I was a kid and sometimes the weather would change drastically. It would be sunny outside one minute, and the next minute, it would be raining cats and dogs. Then, in about five minutes, it would suddenly stop raining and it would be sunny again. My sister would call it a cloud burst. I'm no meteorologist and neither is my sister so I'm asking you particularly if you study the weather. Is there really an occurence known as a cloud burst? If there's a scientific name for this, what is it called?
2007-04-03 17:17:31 · 4 answers · asked by mikey062804 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Weather
I am not a mereorologist either. But a cloud is just moisture floating about. When these get over satureated the droplets get too heavy to float and it creates rain. The cloud does not literally burst it just sheds the over load of moisture.
2007-04-03 17:36:10 · answer #1 · answered by Jerry G 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think your sister might have heard about a downburst somewhere but got a little confused on the definition. Thunderstorms can explode out of no where, so one minute it could be sunny, and quite literally 5 minutes later the sky could be black. When a thunderstorm collapses, it can create what is know as a downburst. This is basically all the moisture and air in the 30,000ft tall cloud crashing to the surface. Wind speeds have been know to reach 120mph and it can dump nearly an inch of rain in a matter of seconds. They are not too common, since this usually only covers a small area. Although we had a thunderstorm collaspe over us a few weeks ago and got a 65mph gust out of it. That was pretty cool.
2007-04-03 19:54:38 · answer #2 · answered by weathermanpeter 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They're called isloated thunderstorms, or "super cells".
Simply put, they are a string of thunderstorms (usually on a cold front) that is only 10-20 miles wide, and they will create tornadoes if the conditions exist.
What you're talking about is just nearby surface water (a lake, ocean, or even a large river)evaporating and creating spot showers (same thing as lake-effect snow, just warmer)
2007-04-04 11:52:54 · answer #3 · answered by Jacob S 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi. A thunderstorm starts by rising to great heights. After this the rain and air fall rapidly back to the ground. http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?s=thunderstorm&gwp=13
2007-04-03 17:20:57 · answer #4 · answered by Cirric 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋