Polar air is usually dry and a thunderstorm needs warm moist maritime air. The area has proximity to sources of large areas of warm water such as the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. In addition the atmosphere becomes unstable in the afternoons due to the surface warming. Kansas has greater temperature gradients supported by warm Gulf air that aid in creating severe storms. Describe one process by which thunderstorms become electrified.
Supercooled droplets freeze on contact with graupel and release latent heat.
Thus, the hailstones surface is warmer than the surrounding ice crystals. The warmer surface ice on the graupel or hailstone gives up positive ions to the surrounding ice crystals leaving the hailstone negative. These hailstones fall, sorting out the negative ions from the positive ions. The lighter positive ice crystals are lifted to the top of the cloud. When the negative base of the cloud passes over the ground, the ground electrons are repelled away from the negative cloud immediately above it.