Conditions Inside Cumulus Clouds Preceding the Onset of Precipitation

Abstract

Conditions within 16 cumulus congestus clouds were measured on aircraft penetrations near the ?5C level and precipitation developments during the subsequent 45 min were noted. Significant correlations exist between the in-cloud conditions and the time of onset and intensity of precipitation. The degree of spatial correlation among the fields of temperature, vertical motion and water content within a given cloud proved more important to subsequent developments than did the mean values of these variables.