Why do shelf clouds form

As that warm air lifts it condenses and a shelf cloud forms. What you will experience as a shelf cloud moves towards you is first heavy winds and then rain and hail.

The main threat with a shelf cloud is severe damaging winds. Although rare sometimes small tornadoes can occur on the leading edge. Example of shelf clouds can be found below.

Sometimes shelf clouds are not well defined. This is an example of a broken shelf cloud with cloud to ground CG lightning. Notice the clouds as they feed up into the front of the shelf giving it a look as if it is rotating horizontally. Here is another shelf cloud this time at night passing over a lake near Jamestown, ND. Notice the dirt being blown across the lake? Shows the cold air pushing out ahead of the storm lifting the warm moist air to help produce the shelf cloud.

All too often shelf clouds get reported as wall clouds. Wall clouds are isolated lowering clouds attached to the rain free base. Wall clouds most likely have vertical rotation associated with them. They can be found on the backside of a storm system, typically to the south-southwest of precipitation free area. Wall clouds are most often associated with supercell thunderstorms. Tags: GWCC. Category : Partner News Stories. About the Author Author Profile.

Subscribe If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it. Privacy guaranteed. We never share your info. A shelf cloud is a low-hanging, well-defined, wedge-shaped formation that occurs along the leading edge of a gust front in a thunderstorm.

Shelf clouds most often form just ahead of intense lines of thunderstorms. Even though they look ominous and people often mistake them for tornadoes, shelf clouds themselves are harmless. What they indicate, however, is potentially more dangerous. These clouds most often form along intense lines of thunderstorms. These storms, called squall lines or bow echoes, tend to produce damaging winds when they hit.

The most well-defined and photogenic shelf clouds occur with the most intense type of severe thunderstorm called a " derecho. It may appear to rotate on a horizontal axis. Wall clouds will rotate on a vertical axis, sometimes strongly. The wall cloud is much smaller and more compact than a shelf cloud and is usually under a rain free cloud base. Scud clouds are often mistakenly called wall clouds or funnel clouds. In reality, these are just rising clouds due to increased low level relative humidity.

They will not rotate and will rise slowly. Please Contact Us.