Mature / Dissipating Stage

Check out this great shot that was sent in from a weather tracker in the Springdale area. It was captured this past Saturday. This is what we often refer to as a "garden variety" thunderstorm. They build up with the heat of the day, drop plenty of rain (often accompanied by lots of lightning and thunder), and then dissipate in the course of some forty five minutes to an hour. This cell is just about at it's mature stage or just in the dissipating stage. Once rain begins to fall within the storm, evaporational cooling shuts off the inflow and the storm rains itself out. Sometimes the characteristic anvil top will hang in upper levels of the atmosphere and just drift around a bit before dissipating.

Thanks for the picture!

Posted by Ted Zarras at 11:35 AM