now a clarification or 2
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A Supercell. "is a cell that is showing visible rotation of the base". it DOESNT meant thats its a BIG cell you can have big cells that are not supercells and conversly you can have physically smaller cells that are supercells see pic 1 below.
pic 2 a close lightning strike. this particular storm had many intense strikes, a serious adrenain rush
pic 3 this cloud feature is called mammatus. often seen under the anvil as the storm is approaching or, in the case below, in the tail of the storm after the main cell has passed overhead. lit up with a wonderful golden colour of the setting sun
The cause..... well all that fast up draught air has to go somewhere ... it spills out the top of the updraught where is has cooled considerably and starts to sink through the cloudmass of the anvil producing all the rounded features.
and yes, before you ask ... mammatus = mammory shaped no coincidence
now to growl at the media....
there are NO SUCH THINGS as mini cyclones, mini tornadoes. its a cyclone or a tornado or its not ... PERIOD !! ... end of story. Us storm guys cringe when we hear those terms used on TV etc.
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A tornado extends from the clouds to the ground. if there is a funnel cloud extending down from the clouds but there is NO disturbance on the ground, then its just that a funnel cloud.
A waterspout is just a tornado over water ( any body of water), sometimes they they can come off the water and over land as had happened in recent times in NSW, Australia. (They then are called a tornado) in the traditional sense of the word.
There are other rotating air masses that are not classed as tornadoes
Landspouts not associated with storms often seen on hot often cloudless days, in Australia called Willi willi 's seen spinning up dust into the air, usually relatively shortlived < 5 mins
ok there we go something a bit different
Dave