They don't get much more spectacular than this. Check out these awesome shots of
towering cumulonimbus clouds photographed by John Vale. John lives in Wheeling but
was in Marshalltown, Iowa--northeast of Des Moines. This photo set shows the storm
"anviling out"---a process in which the top of the clouds begins fanning out
horizontally once the storm's updrafts break through the "tropopause"--the boundary
between the troposphere and the stratosphere. Steady or rising temperatures in the
stratosphere make the updrafts heavier than their surroundings and encouraging this
rising air to begins surging horizontally rather than vertically, lending the cloud top an
"anviled" appearance in time. Thanks for great shots John!
Tom Skilling
Photos courtesy of John Vale of Wheeling, Illinois
