From lightning bolts to monster waves — Earth's storms are some of the most powerful forces in nature!
Storms form when energy in the atmosphere becomes concentrated and unstable. Different conditions create different types of storms — each with its own causes, characteristics, and dangers. Let's explore the most dramatic weather events on Earth!
Inside a thunderstorm cloud, ice crystals and water droplets collide constantly, building up static electricity. The top of the cloud becomes positively charged and the bottom negatively charged. When the difference becomes large enough, a massive electrical discharge — lightning — bridges the gap. A single lightning bolt can carry hundreds of millions of volts of electricity and moves incredibly fast.
Tornadoes form from severe thunderstorms called supercells. When winds at different altitudes blow at different speeds and directions, they create a horizontal spinning rotation in the atmosphere. When a supercell's powerful updraft tilts this rotating air vertically, it can form a rotating column — which can eventually touch down as a tornado. Scientists are still studying exactly how and why some supercells produce tornadoes.
Lightning flashes somewhere on Earth about 40 to 44 times every second — that's roughly 3.5 million flashes per day, or about 1.4 billion per year. Despite this, your chance of being struck by lightning in your lifetime is about 1 in 15,300. Lightning is also essential to life — it converts atmospheric nitrogen into a form that plants can absorb, helping fertilize the soil.
Temperature of the air around a lightning bolt (about 28,000°C) — roughly 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun
Fastest tornado wind speed ever measured by radar — Moore, Oklahoma, 1999 (EF5), about 301 mph give or take 20
tornadoes in the USA in an average year — more than any other country on Earth
Width of the wind field of the largest tropical cyclone ever recorded — Typhoon Tip in the Pacific, 1979
A thunderstorm brings lightning, thunder and heavy rain. A tornado is a violently spinning column of air that reaches from a thunderstorm to the ground. A hurricane is a big tropical storm with winds of at least 74 mph that forms over warm ocean water. A blizzard is a snowstorm with strong winds of 35 mph or more and very low visibility for at least three hours.
Lightning is a giant spark of electricity. It heats the air around it to about 50,000°F, which is roughly five times hotter than the surface of the Sun. The air expands and snaps back so fast that it makes the sound wave we hear as thunder. To estimate distance, count the seconds between flash and thunder and divide by 5 to get miles.
Most strong tornadoes come from rotating thunderstorms called supercells. Changing wind speed and direction with height (wind shear) can start the spinning, and when the rotation reaches the ground it is called a tornado. Scientists are still learning exactly how tornadoes form.
Hurricanes are rated 1 to 5 by their strongest steady winds: Category 1 is 74-95 mph and Category 5 is 157 mph or higher. Categories 3, 4 and 5 are called major hurricanes. Hurricanes need ocean water of about 80°F to get started.
Go inside a sturdy building or a hard-topped car as soon as you hear thunder, because if you can hear thunder you are close enough to be struck. The weather service says there is no truly safe place outdoors, and crouching is no longer recommended because it does not give real protection.
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