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Cumulonimbus incus

Type of cumulus cloud

Summary

Type of cumulus cloud

Field	Value
name	Cumulonimbus incus
image location	A Classic Anvil Cloud Over Europe.jpg
image name	A cumulonimbus incus cloud, showing the characteristic anvil-top shape the cloud type displays
abbreviation	Cb inc.
symbol	Clouds_CL_9.svg
genus	Cumulonimbus (heap, cloud/severe rain)
species	Capillatus (Having hair)
variety	None
altitude_m	Ground to 23,000
altitude_ft	75,000
level	low
appearance	Large flat-top cloud
precipitation	Very common rain, snow, snow pellets or hail, heavy at times

A cumulonimbus incus (), also called an anvil cloud, is a cumulonimbus cloud that has reached the level of stratospheric stability and has formed the characteristic flat, anvil-shaped top. It signifies a thunderstorm in its mature stage, succeeding the cumulonimbus calvus stage. Cumulonimbus incus is a subtype of cumulonimbus capillatus. These clouds are commonly associated with severe weather, including heavy rain, downbursts, and occasionally a tornado.

Hazards

A cumulonimbus incus is a mature thunderstorm cloud generating many dangerous elements.

Lightning: this storm cloud is capable of producing bursts of cloud-to-ground lightning.
Hail: hailstones may fall from this cloud if it is a highly unstable environment (which favours a more vigorous storm updraft).
Heavy rain: this cloud may drop several inches (centimetres) of rain in a short amount of time. This can cause flash flooding.
Strong wind: gale-force winds from a downburst may occur under this cloud.
Tornadoes: in severe cases (most commonly with supercells), it can produce tornadoes. They are not directly produced by cumulonimbus incus but rather produced by supercells which come from cumulonimbus incus.

Classification

Cumulonimbus incus over Africa, seen from the International Space Station

Cumulonimbus clouds can be powerful. If the correct atmospheric conditions are met, they can grow into a supercell storm. This cloud may be a single-cell thunderstorm or one cell in a multicellular thunderstorm. They are capable of producing severe storm conditions for a short amount of time.

References

"Incus".
"Cumulonimbus Incus". [[EPOD]] (service of [[Universities Space Research Association.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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