This burst of heat makes the air around the bolt expand explosively, producing the sound we hear as thunder. Since light travels faster than sound, we see the lightning before we hear the thunder. Local storm resulting from warm humid air rising in an unstable environment. The scattered thunderstorms that develop in the summer are called air-mass thunderstorms because they form in warm, maritime tropical air masses away from other weather fronts. More violent severe thunderstorms form in areas with a strong vertical wind shear that forces the updraft into the mature stage, the most intense stage of the thunderstorm.
Severe thunderstorms can produce large hail, forceful winds, flash floods, and tornadoes.
TM See thematic mapper. TNL Thermal Noise Level. TOGA See Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Program. TOMS See Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer. A twisting, spinning funnel of low pressure air.