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Life Cycle of a Thunderstorm. Stage 1:. Towering Cumulus Stage
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Stage 1: Towering Cumulus Stage The first stage of a thunderstorm is the cumulus stage. In this stage lots of moisture is lifted upwards into the atmosphere. The cause for this lift is sometimes insolation heating the ground. The moisture rapidly cools turning into liquid droplets of water due to the cooler temperatures at high altitude which appears as a cumulus cloud.
Stage 2: Mature stage In the mature stage of a thunderstorm the warm air continues to rise until it reaches air which is warmer, and the air can not rise any further. Often this the ‘cap’ is called the tropopause. The air instead is forced out giving the storm a anvil shape. The resulting cloud is called cumulonimbus incus. The water droplets turn into larger or heavier droplets then freeze into ice crystals. As these fall they melt into rain. If the updraft is strong enough, the droplets are held aloft long enough to be so large that they don’t melt completely and fall as hail.