Day 2: Cloud Bursts

Hi everyone!

This is day two of the post a day challenge! Not running low on ideas just yet!

Today I am going to talk about something other than photography or animals. The topic of this post is cloud bursts.

For those who are not aware of what a cloud burst is, let me explain. A cloud burst is a severe amount of precipitation, which is sometimes combined with hail and thunder. Cloud bursts usually last only a few minutes, but can cause dangerous flash floods, killing, hundreds of people.

Analogy: Think of a cloud burst in analogy to someone dumping water out of a bucket onto a swarm of ants. What happens to the ants? They are swept away. That’s what happens to the people under a cloud burst.

Cloud bursts cover only a few kilometers, but can flood the whole area. The rain fall rate during a cloud burst is usually 100 mm per hour or more.

Cloud bursts occur around tropical thunderstorms. In tropical storms, there is more moisture. Another factor is the freezing level. Tropical storms typically have a higher freezing level . The water droplets cannot be frozen into hail stones, so they increase in size as water droplets, not hail stones. I the thunderstorm becomes weak, all the water will break through the storm all at once towards the surface of the cloud.

This is the point of which the thunderstorm falls apart. When the water reaches the surface of the cloud, a cloud burst is formed, and the thunderstorm is destroyed.

Personally, I think this is pretty interesting. I decided to make a post on this topic when I heard about a cloud burst which happened in Uttarakhand, a state in India.

Thanks you,