Cloudburst: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Photos

thunderstorm: rain and lightning

Diagram showing orographic lift, where moist air rises up the green, windward side of a mountain, cools and forms clouds with precipitation, while the opposite, brown lee side remains dry in the rain shadow.

See All Images →

Topics

thunderstorm Rain lightning microburst thunder ball lightning red sprites and blue jets Drizzle What causes acid rain?Does it rain on other planets?

Umbrella colored like a rainbow sticking out above a sea of black umbrellas while it rains. (storm, weather)

Weather Words Vocabulary Quiz

rain. Child in the rain, wearing a rain coat, under a yellow umbrella. April Showers weather climate rain storm water drops

April Showers to March’s Lions and Lambs

ten types of clouds and their elevation: cirrus, cirrocumulus, cirrostratus, altocumulus, altostratus, nimbostratus, stratocumulus, stratus, cumulus, cumulonimbus

Earth’s Atmosphere and Clouds

Lightning over a farm field. Weather electricity thunderstorm light energy tree

Facts You Should Know: Weather Quiz

Iceland, Glacier lagoon (Jokulsarlon)

Winter Weather Words Quiz