Supercell | The Most Destructive Thunderstorms on Earth
The supercell is the most powerful type of storm on the planet. Dive deeper into these storms in this post…
Supercells are the biggest thunderstorms on Earth, producing large hail, wind, and tornadoes. Not all supercells produce tornadoes, but almost all significant tornadoes come from supercells. They have many distinctive features and form in very similar ways to a tornado. Many lightning bolts occur in a supercell’s lifetime. In this post, we will look at what is a supercell, how it forms, and other details about it.
This post is all about the supercell.
The Powerful Supercell
What is a Supercell?
Supercells are the least common type of thunderstorm, but the most powerful. They also travel the longest, sometimes traveling hundreds of miles, still in a really powerful state. They have long-lasting and powerful updrafts, which is why they can produce some of the biggest hail and longest-lasting tornadoes. Incredible displays of lightning happen often within the supercell. Also if you are lucky, you can also see sprites above them from a distance, making some of the most incredible displays of nature.
Tornadoes and Supercells?
Most tornadoes, especially strong, come from supercells. That is why tornadoes need very similar ingredients to supercells. They need shear, instability, and moisture. Tornadoes occur in the rotating part of a supercell, called the mesocyclone. There are several supercelluar features you can spot to see if a tornado is likely to happen. One of those things is the height of the storm base. If the storm base is high, which means that the bottom of the storm is very high above the ground, that means the tornado chances are slim. But if the base is close to the ground, the tornado chances increase. There are many other features like this.
Supercelluar Features
There are many features that a supercell has, including main parts like the mesocyclone, and slightly smaller ones like the anvil. The mesocyclone is the spinning core of a supercell, also the section where a tornado drops if it wants to. A wall cloud surrounds the mesocyclone making a wall appearance. The anvil of a storm is when the storm top is so high, that it cannot rise anymore and spreads out, making an anvil shape. Another feature is the tail cloud, which draws in more ingredients for the storm.
HP and LP Supercells
The last section of this short post will be on the difference between HP and LP supercells. We talked a little bit about them in one of our last posts, but we will still cover them briefly today. HP and LP stand for High Precipitation and Low Precipitation. High Precipitation supercells have a lot of moisture in the environment and are a common type in the deep south. Low Precipitation supercells are usually more photogenic because you can see the whole structure of the storm. LP supercells are more common in Tornado Alley.
