Isolated Thunderstorm

An isolated thunderstorm can occur quickly. For meteorologists, predicting thunderstorm activity can be challenging, not to mention how intense a thunderstorm could be too. When the air is unstable, in other words, turbulent - cool and warm air mixing at or near the earth's surface - the results are unpredictable. It can be storming and rainy on one side of town and sunny with a few clouds, on the other side of town. We often see percentages associated with thunderstorm and rain activity, and people oftern misunderstand their significance. When there is a 20% chance of rain for an area, that means 20% of the area will see rain, and not that there is statisically a 20% chance of rain overall. For more detailed information on isolated thunderstorms, visit http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/primer/tstorm/tst_basics.html for more information.