MATURE PHASE CUMULUS PHASE TECHNIQUE THUNDERSTORMS An anatomy of powerful weather » By Ian J. Twombly ILLUSTRATION BY CHARLES FLOYD YOU DON’T NEED to be an experienced pilot to know that airplanes and thunderstorms don’t mix. The trick comes in identifying and predicting them. Each area of the country experiences thunderstorms in a unique way, so local knowledge is key. But regardless of where they form, every lightning storm has common characteristics. Every thunderstorm goes through three phases—cumulus, mature, and dissipating. 40 / FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORG CUMULUS: This stage is characterized by a vertical building of cumulus clouds. There are strong updrafts as the clouds build past normal cumulus into cumulonimbus. Clouds can go from the beginning of building to mature, resulting in thousands of feet of vertical development, in only 15 minutes. MATURE: When we think of thunderstorms we typically think of the mature stage. Rain falling to the ground, lightning, andhttp://FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORG