EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Cumulonimbus clouds are menacing looking multi-level clouds, extending high into the sky in towers or plumes. More commonly known as thunderclouds, cumulonimbus is the only cloud type that can produce hail, thunder and lightning.

Detailed explanation-2: -Cumulonimbus clouds are also called thunderheads. Thunderheads produce rain, thunder, and lightning. Many cumulonimbus clouds occur along cold fronts, where cool air is forced under warm air.

Detailed explanation-3: -If enough atmospheric instability, moisture, and lift are present, then strong updrafts can develop in the cumulus cloud leading to a mature, deep cumulonimbus cloud, i.e., a thunderstorm producing heavy rain.

Detailed explanation-4: -Fueled by vigorous convective updrafts (sometimes in excess 50 knots), the tops of cumulonimbus clouds can easily reach 39, 000 feet (12, 000 meters) or higher.

Detailed explanation-5: -The top of the cloud has rounded towers. When the top of the cumulus resembles the head of a cauliflower, it is called cumulus congestus or towering cumulus. These clouds grow upward, and they can develop into a giant cumulonimbus, which is a thunderstorm cloud.