When do storms occur

If you hear the sound of thunder, go to a safe place immediately. The best place to go is a sturdy building or a car, but make sure the windows in the car are shut. Avoid sheds, picnic areas, baseball dugouts and bleachers. If there is no shelter around you, stay away from trees. Crouch down in the open area, keeping twice as far away from a tree as far as it is tall.

Put your feet together and place your hands over your ears to minimize hearing damage from thunder. Swimming, wading, snorkeling and scuba diving are not safe. Stay away from clotheslines, fences, and drop your backpacks because they often have metal on them. Thunderstorm Activities Thunderstorm Experiment: Here is a great way to teach kids how to track a thunderstorm.

Thunderstorm Experiment: Here is a great experiment that shows kids how our weather works. It teaches them how thunderstorms are formed! Lightning Experiment: Here is a great experiment that allows kids to make lightning in their mouth. It's a great way for them to understand how lightning works. Lightning Experiment: Here is a great experiment that allows the kids to make lightning.

All you need is a balloon and a light bulb! Lightning Experiment: Here is another great experiment that allows the kids to make lightning. This teaches kids about the positive and negative charges and where they come from. Static Electricity Experiment: Here is an experiment that allows the kids to learn about static electricity.

Static Electricity Experiment: Here is another static electricity experiment. Static Electricity Experiment: Here is yet another static electricity experiment. Thunder Experiment: This experiment allows kids to make thunder, in a way that allows them to understand how it is made by lightning.

Pressure Experiment: Here is an experiment that shows how pressure is created in our atmosphere by sucking an egg in a bottle. This is a very cool experiment! Make A Barometer Experiment: Here is an experiment that allows the kids to make a barometer. Evaporation Experiment: Here is an experiment that shows kids how evaporation takes place.

Science Fair Project Ideas: Here is a complete list of science fair project ideas. Discover the science behind the weather that impacts us every day. Some instruments are being driven to areas in the Plains where storms are expected to form, and others are flown to these areas on aircraft. Analyses of the vast amounts of data collected, and the use of state-of-the-art computer models, will shed light on how nocturnal storms form.

Bluestein: The instruments include sophisticated Doppler radars, lasers and devices that measure radiation, which can tell us what the temperature and humidity are. Other more conventional instruments such as thermometers and anemometers are mounted on the roofs of cars. Weather balloons are also being launched from mobile platforms. Bluestein: Nocturnal thunderstorms that occur in large complexes or lines are capable of producing damaging winds, hail and torrential rainfall that can result in flash flooding.

Tornadoes, however, while possible, occur much less frequently at night. Lightning is also a significant hazard. Bluestein: Be sure to secure all outdoor patio furniture and other things that can be blown around by strong winds. Park cars in garages or under shelters if possible to protect them from hail or falling tree branches. Make sure electronic devices such as computers and televisions that are plugged into the wall are protected from electrical surges or are simply disconnected.

If you live in a flood-prone area, be prepared to evacuate if a flash flood warning is issued. A NOAA weather radio with an alarm tone and a cellphone with alarm capability are useful for being awakened and warned while you are asleep. Under the right conditions, rainfall from thunderstorms causes flash flooding, killing more people each year than hurricanes, tornadoes or lightning.

Lightning is responsible for many fires around the world each year, and causes fatalities. Hail up to the size of softballs damages cars and windows, and kills livestock caught out in the open. Strong up to more than mph straight-line winds associated with thunderstorms knock down trees, power lines and mobile homes.

Tornadoes with winds up to about mph can destroy all but the best-built man-made structures. Where are severe thunderstorms most common?

The greatest severe weather threat in the U. But, no place in the United States is completely safe from the threat of severe weather. A watch can cover parts of a state or several states. Warnings mean there is a serious threat to life and property to those in the path of the storm. ACT now to find safe shelter! As the summer comes to a close, be sure to be aware of the potential for afternoon thunderstorms and the risks that come along with them.

To learn more about severe weather topics from around the globe, click here! AlabamaWX is pleased to partner with the Global Weather and Climate Center team for outstanding posts about our atmosphere.

Tags: GWCC. Category : Partner News Stories. Thunderstorms are a weather phenomenon that occur and develop due to high amounts of moisture in the air along with warm air that is rising. These storms typically last less than thirty minutes and occur within a mile radius. According to NOAA, in the United States nearly , thunderstorms occur each year, with ten percent of these storms becoming severe thunderstorms.

Thunderstorms occur most often in the afternoon and evening of the spring and summer months, and bring with them thunder, lightning, heavy rain, and the potential risk for flash flooding.