Weather Radar Fundamentals


Convection ยป Thunderstorm Structures

A thunderstorm cloud viewed from the ground with spectacular lightning strikes next to a thick rain shaft.  The sun angle makes the background color a brilliant golden yellow.  Nitrogen oxide molecules are indicated near the lightning strike.

In the following sections, we will discuss how ordinary, or everyday, thunderstorms appear on radar. We will then examine the radar signatures of two specific thunderstorm structures that produce a large portion of severe weather: the supercell thunderstorm and the mesoscale convective system.