cumulonimbus Quick reference
A Dictionary of Geology and Earth Sciences (5 ed.)
... From the Latin cumulus meaning ‘heap’ and nimbus meaning ‘cloud’, a genus of clouds of bulging, dense form, often towering to great height in unstable air. Young clouds have distinctive fibrous or lined features; older, glaciated types, with abundant ice crystals, are lustrous. Typically, the upper parts are spread into incus or plume features. The cloud base is dark and usually gives rise to precipitation, often with virga . See also cloud classification...
cumulonimbus Quick reference
A Dictionary of Weather (3 ed.)
... ( Cb ) [Latin: ‘heap’ + ‘raincloud’] One of the cloud genera . A large, towering cloud of great vertical extent, with a dark, ragged base from which rain, hail, or snow is falling, often in the form of virga ( Plate 8 ). The cloud usually shows signs of vigorous convection, and the tops (which appear brilliantly white when illuminated by the Sun) are glaciated and may appear smooth ( Plate 8 ), fibrous, or striated, or be flattened into an anvil ( incus : Plate 9 ). Individual cumulonimbus cells pass through three stages: growing...
cumulonimbus Quick reference
A Dictionary of Ecology (5 ed.)
... From the Latin cumulus , meaning ‘heap’ and nimbus meaning ‘cloud’, the name of a cloud of bulging, dense form, often towering to great height in unstable air. Young clouds have distinctive fibrous or lined features; older, glaciated types, with abundant ice crystals, are lustrous. Typically, the upper parts are spread into anvil ( incus ) or plume features. The cloud base is dark and usually gives rise to precipitation, often with virga . See also cloud classification...
cumulonimbus Quick reference
A Dictionary of Environment and Conservation (3 ed.)
... ( Cb ) A cumuliform cloud with a low base but with a top sometimes reaching an altitude of 9000 m, formed in turbulent, rising air. From below they usually appear grey or dark grey due to the amount of sunlight they reflect. Their tops may be smooth or striated or be flattened into an anvil shape, and they often bring heavy rain or hail (formed in the strong vertical uplift). They are often associated with thunderstorms and occasionally they trigger tornadoes...
cumulo-nimbus Quick reference
A Dictionary of Geography (6 ed.)
... A low-based, rain-bearing cumulus cloud, dark grey at the base and white at the crown, which spreads into an anvil shape, as it is levelled by strong upper-air...
Cumulonimbus Clouds Reference library
Encyclopedia of Climate and Weather (2 ed.)
... Clouds A deeply developed cumulus cloud that produces precipitation is called a cumulonimbus cloud. A thunderstorm is a single cumulonimbus or group of cumulonimbus clouds accompanied by lightning. Thunderstorms often become severe, especially over land masses in midlatitudes; severe status is officially declared when a thunderstorm produces surface winds of 28 meters per second, hail 2 centimeters (0.75 inch) in diameter, a tornado, or some combination of these elements. Visually, a cumulonimbus cloud is characterized by a flat darkened base,...
cumulonimbus Reference library
The New Oxford Dictionary for Scientific Writers and Editors (2 ed.)
... ( pl. cumulonimbi ) Meteorol. Abbrev.: Cb ...
cumulonimbus Quick reference
New Oxford Rhyming Dictionary (2 ed.)
... • Ananias , bias, Darius, dryas, Elias, eyas, Gaius, hamadryas, Lias, Mathias, pious, Tobias • joyous • Shavuoth • tempestuous • spirituous • tortuous • sumptuous • voluptuous • virtuous • mellifluous • superfluous • congruous • vacuous • fatuous • anfractuous • arduous • ingenuous , strenuous, tenuous • flexuous • sensuous • impetuous • contemptuous • incestuous • assiduous , deciduous • ambiguous , contiguous, exiguous • inconspicuous , perspicuous • promiscuous • continuous , sinuous • nocuous • fructuous • tumultuous • ...
cumulonimbus
heap clouds
towering cumulus
storm scale
splashing cirrus
downshear
