Thunderstorms/Thundery Showers - What's the difference?

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NZ Thunderstorm Soc
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Thunderstorms/Thundery Showers - What's the difference?

Unread post by NZ Thunderstorm Soc »

I thought I would start a discussion about thunderstorms and thundery showers as MetService like to use the term 'thundery showers' quite often

What is the difference between these two?



JohnGaul
NZ Thunderstorm Soc ...or maybe
NZ Thundery Shower Soc?
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Michael
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Location: Rainy Manurewa, Auckland - "City of Gales"

Unread post by Michael »

They mean "thundery showers" like when its heavy showers and often squally without thunder but covers all bases(we get them lots in unstable NW or W conditions) and we all know what thunderstorms are.
Its like using the term breezy instead of fresh :?
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NZstorm
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Unread post by NZstorm »

Thundery showers suggests weaker electrical activity, perhaps just single cell cb's.

A typical thunderstorm would be multicell cb's with moderate to strong electrical actviity.
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NZ Thunderstorm Soc
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Location: Raukapuka Geraldine

Unread post by NZ Thunderstorm Soc »

NZstorm wrote:Thundery showers suggests weaker electrical activity, perhaps just single cell cb's.

A typical thunderstorm would be multicell cb's with moderate to strong electrical actviity.

Thanks Steven.
That sounds like a reasonable explanation :)

JohnGaul
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spwill
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Unread post by spwill »

Any time Thunder is heard you have a Thunderstorm.
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C-Nimbus
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Location: Waitakere City - Westie!!

Unread post by C-Nimbus »

and every time it rains you have a.......ahem....a shower!

but i think its just the metservice padding out the already limited phrases that they use.

Also, they have to be nice and simple for the weather boys and girls to be able to pronounce them and sound convincing, I mean really when was the last time the TV3 chicken guy said:-

'Expect the Southern Oscillation Index to be slightly lower than expected for this time of year, dragging in areas of warm, moist sub tropical air that is likely to converge with cooler southerly airflows. The convergence will see Cb's top out at 9000m, with the resultant glaciation indicating the likely direction of the upper jetstream"

:roll:
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