Paesta Podcasts

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript of the podcast Hi everyone! My name is Alexis and I am an undergrad student at Penn State Brandywine. Today I will be answering a question for you. The question I will be answering for you is “What is a Thunderstorm?” First off here is a basic definition. A thunderstorm is a localized storm that is produced by a cumulonimbus cloud and always contains thunder and lightning. [1] They form in conditionally unstable environments, which means there is a cold, dry air aloft over warm, moist surface air. For a thunderstorm to form there needs to be three key ingredients. [2] First there must be moisture. Moisture must be present in the lower levels of the atmosphere. Next there needs to be cold air. The cold air must be present in the upper atmosphere. And finally there must be a catalyst to push the warm air into the cold air. The catalyst is usually in the form of a front, which is the interface between air masses at different temperatures. Thunderstorms also can