How and where a cloud releases its load to earth can vary greatly with the type of cloud. In the case of November’s Cloud of the Month, a large Cumulonimbus over the Mongolian Steppe, the precipitation is sudden, heavy and very localised. Here, the rain or hail is falling within an intense downward burst of air, known as a ‘microburst’. It is not unlike a cloud sneeze.
A microburst can be either ‘dry’, when it is just a downward column of intense wind, or ‘wet’, as in James and Sheila’s photograph, when the wind carries heavy precipitation. Like an actual sneeze, a microburst can develop suddenly and with little warning. So when a storm cloud is overcome with the urge to let rip like this, you’ll have to hope it isn’t facing you as it does so.
© James Hubbard & Dr. Sheila Loughman