Grand Teton National Park experiences all of the four seasons, which comes along with a wide range of weather. Two types of
precipitation are common in the park. Those types are rain (liquid) and snow
(solid). Rain happens when the
condensation process is above the freezing point and snow’s process happens
when the sublimation process is below the freezing point.
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| Snow on the Tetons |
Thunderstorms are common in the Spring and Summer and occur with moisture and unstable air. There
are three stages in creating a thunderstorms: 1) Updraft Cumulus Stage, 2)
Mature Stage and 3) Dissipating Stage. Hail,
rain, and sleet come along with thunderstorms.
Hail is a product of thunderstorms that forms when
strong warm updrafts force rain drops above the freezing point. When the rain is above the freezing point it builds on layers of ice and then cold
downdrafts return the frozen droplets to below the freezing line. This process happens over and over until the
hail finally drops.
Lightning also occurs when there is a discharge of electricity between large volumes of excess positive and negative charge that often accumulate in cumulonimbus clouds.
Lightning also occurs when there is a discharge of electricity between large volumes of excess positive and negative charge that often accumulate in cumulonimbus clouds.
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| Lightning |
Clouds are classified into different categories based on the levels they are formed. Cloud levels are determined by three altitude ranges and their distance from base height. Low-Level clouds go from the base up to about 7,700 feet. The main Low-Level clouds are stratus, nimbus, cumulus, and fog. Mid-Level clouds go from about 7,700 feet from the base to 23,000 feet. The main Mid-Level clouds are lenticular, altocumulus and altostratus. High-Level clouds go from 23,000 feet and above. There are two main types of high level clouds as well which are cirrus and contrails.
One of the
coolest clouds, in my opinion, is a lenticular cloud. They are “pancake clouds” that form over all
mountain ranges because of strong winds blowing upwards and forcing moist air
up to cooler elevations, and the moisture condenses.
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| Great display of Lenticular clouds with stratocumulus clouds below |
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