Thunderstorm Facts: What Are Updrafts?

10/21/2020 (Permalink)

According to Dennis Mersereau, from Mentalfloss.com, he defines the various stages and occurrences that go on during the course of a very strong thunderstorm, or during a stronger storm in general.

“Thunderstorms can inspire the entire range of human emotion with their vivid displays of nature’s fury,” Mersereau says, “they [storms] are used to set an ominous tone in spooky stories, even as they bring much-needed relief to parched fields or distressed humans on a hot day.”

Mersereau mentions updrafts as one of the key components to start up a storm, which are columns of warm air that quickly rise through the atmosphere, often packing a punch! It is worth noting that the size and force of an updraft is dependent upon the temperatures in the atmosphere, but they can easily exceed 100mph during strong storms.