Why do powerful storms seem to move from space

The most powerful storms whirl and spin like a pot of boiling water.

With the latest NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) weather imaging satellites, this aggressive storm behavior is easily visible from space. Such a thunderous dynamic activity was on display Monday, as weather conditions were inclement weather and tornadoes swirled in the southern plains. NOAA's GOES-16 satellite captured action from some 22,000 miles above the Earth.

"It sounds like a big bomb exploding," said Jeff Weber, a meteorologist at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.

The storms here are supercells, a type of violent thunderstorm that can cause tornadoes. And indeed, many of these May 20 supercells formed twisted air columns that swept the floor in the area, noted Weber.

The key elements of this cloud appearance are the updrafts – powerful winds rising through a storm. "The boiling appearance" that you see is due to the strength of the wind rising from the storm, "said Kristin Calhoun, a researcher at NOAA's National Severe Storm Laboratory.

"It looks like a big bomb that explodes."

The very nature of thunderstorms is to quickly transport heat and moisture from the ground to the sky. "The atmosphere goes up in a fairly short time," noted Brian Tang, a scientist specializing in the field of atmosphere at the University of Albany. These rising winds range from 30 to 50 mph, but have reached speeds of up to 100 mph, Tang said.

Eventually, warm air and water-rich clouds reach the top of the storm where they "escape", Weber explained. Gravity then brings the clouds down, creating a roiling effect.

"This indicates a very powerful storm," said Weber.

In places exposed to the weather, such as in the American plains, a calm cloud can quickly turn into a smoking storm of supercells. This is why, seen from the space, these storms sometimes seem to come out of the atmosphere. "In these really violent 20 days, we can see a cloud go from a normal cloud to a violent thunderstorm in the space of 20 minutes," said Stephen Strader, an expert in severe weather at 39. University of Villanova, which pursues these storms in the American plains. "Within 30 minutes [the storm] could have a tornado warning. "

However, when we watch the satellite images of NOAA, we observe an accelerated version of what happened on Earth. It's a time-lapse of detailed satellite photography. But the boiling motion is the same. "It's moving," said Tang. "Just like a pan of water on a stove."

Today, this boiling atmospheric behavior is now clearly visible as the latest NOAA weather imaging satellites, GOES-16 and GOES-17, can take very detailed images every 30 seconds. GOES-16, which captured storms swirling over the Texas Panhandle, is located above the equator and can see the entire US territory.

Image: Kristin Calhoun / Noaa

On May 20, a number of powerful supercell storms formed because the right ingredients were available and mixed together. There was an abundance of moisture, hot and cold air masses colliding and amplified atmospheric instability as the air in the developing storms twisted and changed direction while s & # 39; 39, raising even higher.

Severe weather clubbed the area, the infrastructure was mutilated, demolished mobile homes, and people are hurting – But there were not as many supercell storms as forecasters had planned, Strader said. "The models indicated that it would be a historic event," Strader said. "That's what did not happen, society was luckier than we thought."

Indeed, in Oklahoma, a warm air hat was removing one of the main ingredients of the storm, instability, Strader explained. Strader explained that this hat, born in Mexico, covered thunderstorms and prevented the activity of the storm.

But many storms have formed. And twenty twisters have been spotted in the greater region.

"It was certainly not a disappointed forecast," Weber said.