WEIGHT OF A THUNDERSTORM

We were recently asked how much water was contained in a thunderstorm. I remembered doing such a problem back in school, but had to brush up on the approximation; it’s really quite staggering.

A typical t-storm is roughly 15 km X 15 km X 15km. The density of water is 1g / m3.

3375 cubic kilometers is equal to 3.375 E12 m3.

3.375 E12 m3 X (1g/m3) = 3.375 E12g = 7 440 601 348.739 617 lbs. !

A fully loaded 18 wheeler weighs 80,000 lbs.

So, your typical thunderstorm weighs approximately as much as 93 thousand fully loaded 18 wheelers. (93007.51686 lbs.)

OR

An adult elephant weighs roughly 12000 lbs.

So, your typical thunderstorm weighs approximately as much as 620 thousand elephants! (620050.1124 lbs.)

Posted by Ted Zarras at 2:00 PM