Thunderstorm clouds(Anandu Vinod / Unsplash)This week, LPM’s Bill Burton talks with Tawana Andrew about different types of thunderstorms.This transcript was edited for clarity and length.Bill Burton: It's time for us to take a look at the Science Behind the Forecast as I'm joined by WAVE 3 meteo rologist Tawana Andrew. Good morning, Tawana.Tawana Andrew: Good morning, and today's topic is all about thunderstorms.BB: It is that magical time of the year where thunderstorms can pop up seemingly out of nowhere. There's different kinds of thunderstorms, too. That's what you're going to take us through today?TA: We'll talk about the different types of thunderstorms, which can be classified based on whether there's rotation, whether there's updrafts or downdrafts, close or far away from each other, or even just the appearance of the thunderstorm itself.The most basic type of thunderstorm is a single-cell storm. This forms when you have very weak wind shear. There's not a lot of strong wind moving around in the atmosphere, and you have rising air that creates that thunderstorm and allows for precipitation to develop within the cloud until that precipitation becomes too heavy for the updraft, causing it to fall. In that type of situation, you usually have light winds and not a lot of atmospheric energy, which allows the precipitation to fall within or near the updraft. That weakens the storm. A single-cell storm typically lasts about 30 to 45 minutes. It can produce some small hail and it can produce some gusty winds. But those winds will remain below severe limits, which is 58 miles per hour.BB: So it can come and go quickly, but still do some damage occasionally.TA: Exactly. Kind of like what we see during the summer months, where they just pop in the afternoon and then fall apart not too long after.Some of those stronger summer storms are pulse thunderstorms, which is a type of single-cell storm. It's not usually severe, but it will form when you have a little bit more atmospheric energy available. On those more hot, humid days, and with that extra energy in place, that actually allows for more intense and greater amounts of precipitation. These storms can produce strong winds, usually reaching speeds of less than 70 miles per hour. That will put in the low end of a severe thunderstorm warning. They can also produce small- to moderate-sized hail. This is the one where you'll get the pea-sized, the nickel-sized hail in the summer months, and in some cases you'll even get a weak tornado — EF-0, EF-1 out of a pulse thunderstorm like this.Then the most common type of thunderstorm is a multicellular cluster of storms. Just think of all the thunderstorms gathering around together and hanging out. That's basically what that is.BB: I think that's a new Marvel movie, isn't it?TA: It's like the Avengers with thunderstorms. These clusters consist of multiple storms that are in different stages of their life cycles. They can persist for hours, and they move together as one unit. Like the Avengers, but in their lemming form, I guess. These types of storms can last for several hours, especially when you have consistent rising air leading to new updrafts. Basically, creating more energy for additional storms to form, and that rising air can be caused by factors like warm fronts, cold fronts, outflows from other storms, or even elevated terrain nearby. All can lead to that rising air. ...read more read less