This heat in turn keeps the surface of the hail and ice slightly warmer than their surrounding environment, and a 'soft hail', or 'graupel' forms. When these collide, the water droplets freeze and release heat. Meanwhile, downdrafts transport hail and ice from the frozen upper regions of the storm. The updrafts transport small liquid water droplets from the lower regions of the storm to heights between 35,000 and 70,000 feet, miles above the freezing level. Strong updrafts and downdrafts occur with regularity and within close proximity to each other. Thunderstorms have very turbulent environments. Separated charges in a thunderstorm Charge Separation But by educating yourself about lightning and learning some basic safety rules, you, your family, and your friends can avoid needless exposure to the dangers of one of the most capricious and unpredictable forces of nature. Storms that fail to produce large quantities of ice usually fail to produce lightning.įorecasting when and where lightning will strike is not yet possible and most likely never will be. Recent studies also indicate that ice, hail, and semi-frozen water drops known as graupel are essential to lightning development. Leading theories focus around separation of electric charge and generation of an electric field within a thunderstorm. However, exactly how lightning forms has never been verified so there is room for debate. The conditions needed to produce lightning have been known for some time.

Heroes of the storm keeps freezing