How air turns violent
Storms and Atmosphere
This group stays close to the atmosphere as a moving system, where energy, moisture, and instability change the outcome fast.
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Start with What causes lightning?
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A lightning lab that lets you combine updrafts, moisture, ice collisions, and ground connection to see when a storm charges up and finally discharges.
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A lightning lab that lets you combine updrafts, moisture, ice collisions, and ground connection to see when a storm charges up and finally discharges.
If you want the ice-growth-inside-thunderstorms version What causes hail?A hail lab that lets you change updraft strength, supercooled water, the freezing layer, and collisions to compare small soft pellets with damaging large hail.
If your question is really about low clouds at ground level What causes fog?A fog lab that lets you change humidity, cooling, wind, and airborne particles to see when clear air crosses the line into a low cloud.
If you want the bigger severe-weather setup How do hurricanes form?A hurricane lab that lets you tune ocean heat, moisture, spin, and wind shear to see when a tropical cluster stays messy or becomes a powerful storm.
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A lightning lab that lets you combine updrafts, moisture, ice collisions, and ground connection to see when a storm charges up and finally discharges.
Updated Apr 11, 2026 How do hurricanes form?A hurricane lab that lets you tune ocean heat, moisture, spin, and wind shear to see when a tropical cluster stays messy or becomes a powerful storm.
Updated Apr 11, 2026 What causes tornadoes?A tornado lab that lets you change instability, wind shear, storm rotation, and moisture to see when a supercell begins focusing spin toward the ground.
Updated Apr 11, 2026 What causes fog?A fog lab that lets you change humidity, cooling, wind, and airborne particles to see when clear air crosses the line into a low cloud.
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Explainers
Pages in Storms and Atmosphere
Wind, lightning, hail, hurricanes, fog, and cloud physics explaining when the atmosphere becomes dramatic.
A lightning lab that lets you combine updrafts, moisture, ice collisions, and ground connection to see when a storm charges up and finally discharges.
Storms and Atmosphere How do hurricanes form?A hurricane lab that lets you tune ocean heat, moisture, spin, and wind shear to see when a tropical cluster stays messy or becomes a powerful storm.
Storms and Atmosphere What causes tornadoes?A tornado lab that lets you change instability, wind shear, storm rotation, and moisture to see when a supercell begins focusing spin toward the ground.
Storms and Atmosphere What causes fog?A fog lab that lets you change humidity, cooling, wind, and airborne particles to see when clear air crosses the line into a low cloud.
Storms and Atmosphere What is the greenhouse effect?A climate-balance lab that lets you tune sunlight, greenhouse gases, cloud cover, and reflectivity to see how much heat the surface keeps versus sends back to space.
Storms and Atmosphere Why do clouds float?A cloud lab that lets you change updrafts, droplet size, humidity, and cooling to see when a cloud stays aloft and when it starts to fall out as rain.
Storms and Atmosphere What causes hail?A hail lab that lets you change updraft strength, supercooled water, the freezing layer, and collisions to compare small soft pellets with damaging large hail.
Storms and Atmosphere Why does frost form?A frost lab that lets you change air cold, surface cold, humidity, and calm conditions to compare a white crystalline coating with no lasting frost at all.
Storms and Atmosphere What causes thunder?A thunder lab that lets you change lightning heat, moisture, distance, and echoes to compare a violent crack with a rolling storm rumble.
Storms and Atmosphere What causes dew?A dew lab that lets you change surface cooling, humidity, wind mixing, and cloud cover to compare a dripping lawn with a dry dawn.
Storms and Atmosphere Why do airplanes leave contrails?A contrail lab that lets you change exhaust moisture, high-altitude cold, humidity, and wind shear to compare short-lived streaks with spreading cloud sheets.
Further Reading
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