The life cycle of these weather events has three distinct stages. In this stage, parcels of warm humid air rise and cool to form clusters of puffy white cumulus clouds. The clouds are the result of condensation and deposition which releases large quantities of latent heat . The added heat energy keeps the air inside the cloud warmer than the air around it. The cloud continues to develop as long as more humid air is added to it from below.
Updrafts dominate the circulation patterns within the cloud.
Developing thunderstorm cloud at the cumulus stage. When the updrafts reach their maximum altitude in the developing cloud, usually 12 to 14 kilometers, they change their direction 180 degrees and become downdrafts. This marks the mature stage . With the downdrafts, precipitation begins to form through collision and coalescence. The top of the cloud takes on the familiar anvil shape, as strong stratospheric upper-level winds spread ice crystals in the top of the cloud horizontally.