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100-491: Altus ( / ˈ æ l t ə s / ) is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County , Oklahoma , United States. The population was 18,729 at the 2020 census . Altus is home to Altus Air Force Base , the United States Air Force training base for C-17 , KC-46 and KC-135 aircrews. It is also home to Western Oklahoma State College and Southwest Technology Center . The town that would later be named Altus

200-526: A Superior Court and Sheriff (as an officer of the court ), both located in a designated "shire town". Bennington County, Vermont has two shire towns; the court for "North Shire" is in the shire town Manchester , and the Sheriff for the county and court for "South Shire" are in the shire town Bennington. In 2024, Connecticut , which had not defined their counties for anything but statistical, historical and weather warning purposes since 1960, along with ending

300-572: A lightning storm , is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere , known as thunder . Relatively weak thunderstorms are sometimes called thundershowers . Thunderstorms occur in a type of cloud known as a cumulonimbus . They are usually accompanied by strong winds and often produce heavy rain and sometimes snow , sleet , or hail , but some thunderstorms produce little precipitation or no precipitation at all. Thunderstorms may line up in

400-651: A T0 for extremely weak tornadoes to T11 for the most powerful known tornadoes. Doppler radar data, photogrammetry , and ground swirl patterns (cycloidal marks) may also be analyzed to determine intensity and award a rating. Waterspouts have similar characteristics as tornadoes, characterized by a spiraling funnel-shaped wind current that form over bodies of water, connecting to large cumulonimbus clouds. Waterspouts are generally classified as forms of tornadoes, or more specifically, non- supercelled tornadoes that develop over large bodies of water. These spiralling columns of air frequently develop within tropical areas close to

500-410: A county seat may be an independent city surrounded by, but not part of, the county of which it is the administrative center; for example, Fairfax City is both the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia and completely surrounded by Fairfax County, but the city is politically independent of the county. When the county seat is in the independent city, government offices such as the courthouse may be in

600-481: A deviation in their course at a right angle to the wind shear direction. Thunderstorms result from the rapid upward movement of warm, moist air, sometimes along a front . However, some kind of cloud forcing , whether it is a front, shortwave trough, or another system is needed for the air to rapidly accelerate upward. As the warm, moist air moves upward, it cools, condenses , and forms a cumulonimbus cloud that can reach heights of over 20 kilometres (12 mi). As

700-404: A high frequency for cloud-to-ground lightning, like Florida, lightning causes several fatalities per year, most commonly to people working outside. Acid rain is also a frequent risk produced by lightning. Distilled water has a neutral pH of 7. "Clean" or unpolluted rain has a slightly acidic pH of about 5.2, because carbon dioxide and water in the air react together to form carbonic acid ,

800-455: A junior high school, a high school, and a learning center. For the 2011–2012 school year there were approximately 3,851 students. Western Oklahoma State College and Southwest Technology Center provide opportunities for higher education in the area. County seat In Canada , the provinces of Ontario , Quebec , New Brunswick , Prince Edward Island , and Nova Scotia have counties as an administrative division of government below

900-500: A local thunderstorm. During a thunderstorm, pollen grains can absorb moisture and then burst into much smaller fragments with these fragments being easily dispersed by wind. While larger pollen grains are usually filtered by hairs in the nose, the smaller pollen fragments are able to pass through and enter the lungs, triggering the asthma attack. Most thunderstorms come and go fairly uneventfully; however, any thunderstorm can become severe , and all thunderstorms, by definition, present

1000-505: A prominent feature and tracking it from scan to scan. A back-building thunderstorm, commonly referred to as a training thunderstorm , is a thunderstorm in which new development takes place on the upwind side (usually the west or southwest side in the Northern Hemisphere ), such that the storm seems to remain stationary or propagate in a backward direction. Though the storm often appears stationary on radar, or even moving upwind, this

1100-409: A regional agricultural center. By 1930, Altus had eight cotton gins, two cotton compresses, and eighteen wholesale businesses. Altus is located in northeastern Jackson County. It is situated in what used to be Old Greer County, an area with disputed ownership until a Supreme Court decision awarded it to Oklahoma Territory instead of Texas . The city lies between the main channel and North Fork of

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1200-445: A series or become a rainband , known as a squall line . Strong or severe thunderstorms include some of the most dangerous weather phenomena, including large hail, strong winds, and tornadoes . Some of the most persistent severe thunderstorms, known as supercells , rotate as do cyclones. While most thunderstorms move with the mean wind flow through the layer of the troposphere that they occupy, vertical wind shear sometimes causes

1300-562: A storm arises quickly and unexpectedly. Preparing the home by removing dead or rotting limbs and trees, which can be blown over in high winds, can also significantly reduce the risk of property damage and personal injury. The National Weather Service (NWS) in the United States recommends several precautions that people should take if thunderstorms are likely to occur: While safety and preparedness often overlap, "thunderstorm safety" generally refers to what people should do during and after

1400-421: A storm. The American Red Cross recommends that people follow these precautions if a storm is imminent or in progress: The NWS stopped recommending the "lightning crouch" in 2008 as it does not provide a significant level of protection and will not significantly lower the risk of being killed or injured from a nearby lightning strike. Thunderstorms occur throughout the world, even in the polar regions, with

1500-683: A weak acid (pH 5.6 in distilled water), but unpolluted rain also contains other chemicals. Nitric oxide present during thunderstorm phenomena, caused by the oxidation of atmospheric nitrogen, can result in the production of acid rain, if nitric oxide forms compounds with the water molecules in precipitation, thus creating acid rain. Acid rain can damage infrastructures containing calcite or certain other solid chemical compounds. In ecosystems, acid rain can dissolve plant tissues of vegetations and increase acidification process in bodies of water and in soil , resulting in deaths of marine and terrestrial organisms. Any thunderstorm that produces hail that reaches

1600-461: Is a polar molecule that can carry a charge, so it is capable of creating the charge separation needed to produce lightning). These electrical discharges can be up to a thousand times more powerful than lightning on the Earth. The water clouds can form thunderstorms driven by the heat rising from the interior. The clouds of Venus may also be capable of producing lightning ; some observations suggest that

1700-596: Is a complex of thunderstorms that becomes organized on a scale larger than the individual thunderstorms but smaller than extratropical cyclones , and normally persists for several hours or more. A mesoscale convective system's overall cloud and precipitation pattern may be round or linear in shape, and include weather systems such as tropical cyclones , squall lines , lake-effect snow events, polar lows , and mesoscale convective complexes (MCCs), and they generally form near weather fronts . Most mesoscale convective systems develop overnight and continue their lifespan through

1800-435: Is an illusion. The storm is really a multi-cell storm with new, more vigorous cells that form on the upwind side, replacing older cells that continue to drift downwind. When this happens, catastrophic flooding is possible. In Rapid City, South Dakota , in 1972, an unusual alignment of winds at various levels of the atmosphere combined to produce a continuously training set of cells that dropped an enormous quantity of rain upon

1900-474: Is issued if a thunderstorm becomes severe, or will soon turn severe. In Canada, a rainfall rate greater than 50 millimetres (2 in) in one hour, or 75 millimetres (3 in) in three hours, is also used to indicate severe thunderstorms. Severe thunderstorms can occur from any type of storm cell. However, multicell , supercell , and squall lines represent the most common forms of thunderstorms that produce severe weather. A mesoscale convective system (MCS)

2000-409: Is known as the seat of its county. Generally, the county legislature, county courthouse, sheriff's department headquarters, hall of records, jail and correctional facility are located in the county seat, though some functions (such as highway maintenance, which usually requires a large garage for vehicles, along with asphalt and salt storage facilities) may also be located or conducted in other parts of

2100-556: Is known, then the total energy of a thunderstorm can be calculated. In a typical thunderstorm, approximately 5×10 kg of water vapor are lifted, and the amount of energy released when this condenses is 10 joules . This is on the same order of magnitude of energy released within a tropical cyclone, and more energy than that released during the atomic bomb blast at Hiroshima, Japan in 1945 . The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor results show that gamma rays and antimatter particles ( positrons ) can be generated in powerful thunderstorms. It

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2200-525: Is little wind shear , the storm will rapidly enter the dissipating stage and 'rain itself out', but, if there is sufficient change in wind speed or direction, the downdraft will be separated from the updraft, and the storm may become a supercell , where the mature stage can sustain itself for several hours. In the dissipation stage, the thunderstorm is dominated by the downdraft. If atmospheric conditions do not support super cellular development, this stage occurs rather quickly, approximately 20–30 minutes into

2300-422: Is mainly inflicted by downburst winds, large hailstones, and flash flooding caused by heavy precipitation . Stronger thunderstorm cells are capable of producing tornadoes and waterspouts . There are three types of thunderstorms: single-cell , multi-cell , and supercell . Supercell thunderstorms are the strongest and most severe. Mesoscale convective systems formed by favorable vertical wind shear within

2400-468: Is more of a factor with thunderstorms with heavy precipitation (HP) than with thunderstorms with low precipitation (LP). When thunderstorms merge, which is most likely when numerous thunderstorms exist in proximity to each other, the motion of the stronger thunderstorm normally dictates the future motion of the merged cell. The stronger the mean wind, the less likely other processes will be involved in storm motion. On weather radar , storms are tracked by using

2500-741: Is not falling through the updraft) with a strong, rotating updraft (a " mesocyclone "). These storms normally have such powerful updrafts that the top of the supercell storm cloud (or anvil) can break through the troposphere and reach into the lower levels of the stratosphere . Supercell storms can be 24 kilometres (15 mi) wide. Research has shown that at least 90 percent of supercells cause severe weather . These storms can produce destructive tornadoes , extremely large hailstones (10 centimetres or 4 inches diameter), straight-line winds in excess of 130 km/h (81 mph), and flash floods . In fact, research has shown that most tornadoes occur from this type of thunderstorm. Supercells are generally

2600-412: Is one of the most significant thunderstorm hazards to aircraft. When hail stones exceed 13 millimetres (0.5 in) in diameter, planes can be seriously damaged within seconds. The hailstones accumulating on the ground can also be hazardous to landing aircraft. Wheat, corn, soybeans, and tobacco are the most sensitive crops to hail damage. Hail is one of Canada's most costly hazards. Hailstorms have been

2700-411: Is suggested that the antimatter positrons are formed in terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGF). TGFs are brief bursts occurring inside thunderstorms and associated with lightning. The streams of positrons and electrons collide higher in the atmosphere to generate more gamma rays. About 500 TGFs may occur every day worldwide, but mostly go undetected. In more contemporary times, thunderstorms have taken on

2800-586: Is the most common type of thunderstorm development. Mature thunderstorms are found near the center of the cluster, while dissipating thunderstorms exist on their downwind side. Multicell storms form as clusters of storms but may then evolve into one or more squall lines . While each cell of the cluster may only last 20 minutes, the cluster itself may persist for hours at a time. They often arise from convective updrafts in or near mountain ranges and linear weather boundaries, such as strong cold fronts or troughs of low pressure. These type of storms are stronger than

2900-437: Is usually caused by the heavy liquid precipitation that accompanies it. Flash floods are most common in arid regions as well as densely populated urban environments, where few plants, and bodies of water are present to absorb and contain the extra water. Flash flooding can be hazardous to small infrastructure, such as bridges, and weakly constructed buildings. Plants and crops in agricultural areas can be destroyed and devastated by

3000-673: The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1929) built a line through Altus. Around the same time, the Altus, Wichita Falls and Hollis Railway (which became the Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway in 1911, then was acquired by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway in 1922) constructed a line from Altus to the Oklahoma-Texas border. The railroads stimulated economic growth in the area and made Altus

3100-661: The Doppler on Wheels , vehicles with mounted automated weather stations , weather balloons , and unmanned aircraft to investigate thunderstorms expected to produce severe weather. Lightning is detected remotely using sensors that detect cloud-to-ground lightning strokes with 95 percent accuracy in detection and within 250 metres (820 ft) of their point of origin. Thunderstorms strongly influenced many early civilizations. Greeks believed that they were battles waged by Zeus , who hurled lightning bolts forged by Hephaestus . Some American Indian tribes associated thunderstorms with

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3200-490: The Earth's atmosphere . In the mature stage of a thunderstorm, the warmed air continues to rise until it reaches an area of warmer air and can rise no farther. Often this 'cap' is the tropopause . The air is instead forced to spread out, giving the storm a characteristic anvil shape. The resulting cloud is called cumulonimbus incus . The water droplets coalesce into larger and heavier droplets and freeze to become ice particles. As these fall, they melt to become rain. If

3300-438: The Earth's atmosphere . Weaker thunderstorms are steered by winds closer to the Earth's surface than stronger thunderstorms, as the weaker thunderstorms are not as tall. Organized, long-lived thunderstorm cells and complexes move at a right angle to the direction of the vertical wind shear vector. If the gust front, or leading edge of the outflow boundary, races ahead of the thunderstorm, its motion will accelerate in tandem. This

3400-657: The Red River . According to the United States Census Bureau , the city of Altus has a total area of 18.6 square miles (48.1 km), of which 18.4 square miles (47.6 km) are land and 0.2 square miles (0.5 km), or 1.08%, are water. Altus has a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen Cfa ) bordering upon a semi-arid climate ( BSk ). Summers are very hot to sweltering, though occasionally heavy rainfall does occur due to remains of Gulf of Mexico hurricanes moving inland. A record high of 120 °F or 48.9 °C

3500-628: The Rocky Mountains as part of the North American Monsoon regime. In the Northeast , storms take on similar characteristics and patterns as the Midwest, but with less frequency and severity. During the summer, air-mass thunderstorms are an almost daily occurrence over central and southern parts of Florida. If the quantity of water that is condensed in and subsequently precipitated from a cloud

3600-517: The Thunderbird , who they believed was a servant of the Great Spirit . The Norse considered thunderstorms to occur when Thor went to fight Jötnar , with the thunder and lightning being the effect of his strikes with the hammer Mjölnir . Hinduism recognizes Indra as the god of rain and thunderstorms. Christian doctrine accepts that fierce storms are the work of God. These ideas were still within

3700-537: The United States rainfall climatology over the Great Plains since they bring the region about half of their annual warm season rainfall. The two major ways thunderstorms move are via advection of the wind and propagation along outflow boundaries towards sources of greater heat and moisture. Many thunderstorms move with the mean wind speed through the Earth's troposphere , the lowest 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) of

3800-437: The equator , but are less common within areas of high latitude . Flash flooding is the process where a landscape, most notably an urban environment, is subjected to rapid floods. These rapid floods occur more quickly and are more localized than seasonal river flooding or areal flooding and are frequently (though not always) associated with intense rainfall. Flash flooding can frequently occur in slow-moving thunderstorms and

3900-418: The lifted index can be used to assist in determining potential upward vertical development of clouds. Generally, thunderstorms require three conditions in order to form: All thunderstorms, regardless of type, go through three stages: the developing stage , the mature stage , and the dissipation stage . The average thunderstorm has a 24 km (15 mi) diameter. Depending on the conditions present in

4000-504: The water vapor in that rising air condenses . When the moisture condenses, it releases energy known as latent heat of condensation, which allows the rising packet of air to cool less than the cooler surrounding air continuing the cloud's ascension. If enough instability is present in the atmosphere, this process will continue long enough for cumulonimbus clouds to form and produce lightning and thunder . Meteorological indices such as convective available potential energy (CAPE) and

4100-475: The 18th century. Beyond the Earth's atmosphere, thunderstorms have also been observed on the planets of Jupiter , Saturn , Neptune , and, probably, Venus . Warm air has a lower density than cool air, so warmer air rises upwards and cooler air will settle at the bottom (this effect can be seen with a hot air balloon ). Clouds form as relatively warmer air, carrying moisture, rises within cooler air. The moist air rises, and, as it does so, it cools and some of

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4200-481: The Earth's surface, occasionally causing strong winds that are commonly associated with thunderstorms. Thunderstorms can form and develop in any geographic location but most frequently within the mid-latitude , where warm, moist air from tropical latitudes collides with cooler air from polar latitudes. Thunderstorms are responsible for the development and formation of many severe weather phenomena, which can be potentially hazardous. Damage that results from thunderstorms

4300-561: The Plains States from Canada, producing temperatures below 0 °F or −17.8 °C in extreme cases. Such cold temperatures on average occur once every three winters, although on average 78.5 mornings each year fall to or below the freezing point. Snowfall is rare and erratic: the most in a months being 16.1 inches (0.41 m) in January 1966, while most rainfall comes during the unsettled spring season, when heavy thunderstorms can occur from

4400-879: The United States, followed by Towson , the county seat of Baltimore County, Maryland . Likewise, some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example, Cape May Court House, New Jersey , though unincorporated, is a section of Middle Township , an incorporated municipality. In some states, often those that were among the original Thirteen Colonies , county seats include or formerly included "Court House" as part of their name, such as Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia . Most counties have only one county seat. However, some counties in Alabama , Arkansas , Georgia , Iowa , Kentucky , Massachusetts , Mississippi , Missouri , New Hampshire , New York , and Vermont have two or more county seats, usually located on opposite sides of

4500-589: The atmosphere, each of these three stages take an average of 30 minutes. The first stage of a thunderstorm is the cumulus stage or developing stage. During this stage, masses of moisture are lifted upwards into the atmosphere. The trigger for this lift can be solar illumination , where the heating of the ground produces thermals , or where two winds converge forcing air upwards, or where winds blow over terrain of increasing elevation. The moisture carried upward cools into liquid drops of water due to lower temperatures at high altitude, which appear as cumulus clouds. As

4600-404: The average family size was 3.14. In the city, the population was spread out, with 29.8% under the age of 18, 11.0% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 17.9% from 45 to 64, and 11.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.1 males. The median income for a household in the city

4700-758: The back edge of the rain shield associated with mature squall lines, a wake low can form, which is a mesoscale low pressure area that forms behind the mesoscale high pressure system normally present under the rain canopy, which are sometimes associated with a heat burst . This kind of storm is also known as "Wind of the Stony Lake" ( simplified Chinese : 石湖风 ; traditional Chinese : 石湖風 ; shi2 hu2 feng1) in southern China. Supercell storms are large, usually severe , quasi-steady-state storms that form in an environment where wind speed or wind direction varies with height (" wind shear "), and they have separate downdrafts and updrafts (i.e., where its associated precipitation

4800-402: The bulk of the occurrences from May through September. Cheyenne, Wyoming , is North America's most hail-prone city with an average of nine to ten hailstorms per season. In South America, areas prone to hail are cities like Bogotá, Colombia. Hail can cause serious damage, notably to automobiles , aircraft, skylights, glass-roofed structures, livestock, and most commonly, farmers' crops . Hail

4900-501: The cause of costly and deadly events throughout history. One of the earliest recorded incidents occurred around the 9th century in Roopkund , Uttarakhand, India. The largest hailstone in terms of maximum circumference and length ever recorded in the United States fell in 2003 in Aurora, Nebraska , United States. A tornado is a violent, rotating column of air in contact with both the surface of

5000-418: The convergence of hot and cold air masses to produce very intense short-period rainfall. The wettest month has been May 1980 with 13.34 inches (338.8 mm), whilst zero precipitation has on occasion been recorded in every month except May and June, and the wettest 24 hour period on October 20, 1983, with 7.10 inches (180.3 mm). The wettest calendar year has been 1941 with 49.30 inches (1,252.2 mm) and

5100-517: The counties after his unification, there were about 1,000. Under the Eastern Han dynasty , the number of counties increased to above 1,000. About 1400 existed when the Sui dynasty abolished the commandery level (郡 jùn), which was the level just above counties, and demoted some commanderies to counties. In Imperial China, the county was a significant administrative unit because it marked the lowest level of

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5200-418: The county, especially if it is geographically large. A county seat is usually an incorporated municipality . The exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as Arlington County, Virginia , where the county seat is the entire county. Ellicott City , the county seat of Howard County, Maryland , is the largest unincorporated county seat in

5300-420: The county. Examples include Harrison County, Mississippi , which has both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats, and Hinds County, Mississippi , which has both Raymond and the state capital of Jackson . The practice of multiple county seat towns dates from the days when travel was difficult. There have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement, since a county seat is a source of civic pride for

5400-431: The danger of lightning . Thunderstorm preparedness and safety refers to taking steps before, during, and after a thunderstorm to minimize injury and damage. Preparedness refers to precautions that should be taken before a thunderstorm. Some preparedness takes the form of general readiness (as a thunderstorm can occur at any time of the day or year). Preparing a family emergency plan, for example, can save valuable time if

5500-497: The development of organized convection. This term technically applies to a single thunderstorm with one main updraft. Also known as air-mass thunderstorms , these are the typical summer thunderstorms in many temperate locales. They also occur in the cool unstable air that often follows the passage of a cold front from the sea during winter. Within a cluster of thunderstorms, the term "cell" refers to each separate principal updraft. Thunderstorm cells occasionally form in isolation, as

5600-555: The driest 1970 with 10.42 inches (264.7 mm). As of the census of 2010, there were 19,813 people living in the city. The population density was 1,200 inhabitants per square mile (460/km). There were 8,890 housing units at an average density of 540 units per square mile (210 units/km). The racial makeup of the city was 72.62% White , 10.41% African American , 1.48% Native American , 1.38% Asian , 0.20% Pacific Islander , 10.32% from other races , and 3.59% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 17.25% of

5700-637: The earth and a cumulonimbus cloud (otherwise known as a thundercloud) or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud . Tornadoes come in many sizes but are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel , whose narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of debris and dust . Most tornadoes have wind speeds between 40 and 110 mph (64 and 177 km/h), are approximately 75 metres (246 ft) across, and travel several kilometers (a few miles) before dissipating. Some attain wind speeds of more than 300 mph (480 km/h), stretch more than 1,600 metres (1 mi) across, and stay on

5800-429: The force exerted by downburst winds. Downburst winds are usually formed in areas when high pressure air systems of downdrafts begin to sink and displace the air masses below it, due to their higher density. When these downdrafts reach the surface, they spread out and turn into the destructive straight-horizontal winds. Thunderstorm asthma is the triggering of an asthma attack by environmental conditions directly caused by

5900-739: The force of raging water. Automobiles parked within affected areas can also be displaced. Soil erosion can occur as well, exposing risks of landslide phenomena. Downburst winds can produce numerous hazards to landscapes experiencing thunderstorms. Downburst winds are generally very powerful, and are often mistaken for wind speeds produced by tornadoes, due to the concentrated amount of force exerted by their straight-horizontal characteristic. Downburst winds can be hazardous to unstable, incomplete, or weakly constructed infrastructures and buildings. Agricultural crops, and other plants in nearby environments can be uprooted and damaged. Aircraft engaged in takeoff or landing can crash. Automobiles can be displaced by

6000-427: The form of strong straight-line winds can be expected in areas where the squall line itself is in the shape of a bow echo , within the portion of the line that bows out the most. Tornadoes can be found along waves within a line echo wave pattern , or LEWP, where mesoscale low pressure areas are present. Some bow echoes in the summer are called derechos , and move quite fast through large sections of territory. On

6100-579: The greatest frequency in tropical rainforest areas, where they may occur nearly daily. At any given time, approximately 2,000 thunderstorms are occurring on Earth. Kampala and Tororo in Uganda have each been mentioned as the most thunderous places on Earth, a claim also made for Singapore and Bogor on the Indonesian island of Java . Other cities known for frequent storm activity include Darwin , Caracas, Manila and Mumbai . Thunderstorms are associated with

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6200-469: The ground for more than 100 kilometres (dozens of miles). The Fujita scale and the Enhanced Fujita Scale rate tornadoes by damage caused. An EF0 tornado, the weakest category, damages trees but does not cause significant damage to structures. An EF5 tornado, the strongest category, rips buildings off their foundations and can deform large skyscrapers. The similar TORRO scale ranges from

6300-449: The ground is known as a hailstorm. Thunderclouds that are capable of producing hailstones are often seen obtaining green coloration. Hail is more common along mountain ranges because mountains force horizontal winds upwards (known as orographic lifting ), thereby intensifying the updrafts within thunderstorms and making hail more likely. One of the more common regions for large hail is across mountainous northern India, which reported one of

6400-410: The highest hail-related death tolls on record in 1888. China also experiences significant hailstorms. Across Europe, Croatia experiences frequent occurrences of hail. In North America, hail is most common in the area where Colorado , Nebraska , and Wyoming meet, known as "Hail Alley". Hail in this region occurs between the months of March and October during the afternoon and evening hours, with

6500-424: The imperial bureaucratic structure; in other words, it was the lowest level that the government reached. Government below the county level was often undertaken through informal non-bureaucratic means, varying between dynasties. The head of a county was the magistrate , who oversaw both the day-to-day operations of the county as well as civil and criminal cases. The current number of counties mostly resembled that of

6600-572: The increase of Han Chinese population in Taiwan, the number of counties also grew by time. By the end of Qing era, there were 11 counties in Taiwan. Protestant missionaries in China first romanized the term as hien . When Taiwan became a Japanese colony in 1895, the hierarchy of divisions also incorporated into the Japanese system in the period when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. By September 1945, Taiwan

6700-611: The independent city under an agreement, such as in Albemarle , or may in be enclaves of the county surrounded by the independent city, such as in Fairfax . Others, such as Prince William , have the courthouse in an enclave surrounded by the independent city and have the county government, the Board of Supervisors, in a different part of the county, far from the county seat. The following counties have their county seat in an independent city: Bedford

6800-402: The instability and relative wind conditions at different layers of the atmosphere (" wind shear "). Single-cell thunderstorms form in environments of low vertical wind shear and last only 20–30 minutes. Organized thunderstorms and thunderstorm clusters/lines can have longer life cycles as they form in environments of significant vertical wind shear, normally greater than 25 knots (13 m/s) in

6900-732: The later years of the Qing dynasty . Changes of location and names of counties in Chinese history have been a major field of research in Chinese historical geography, especially from the 1960s to the 1980s. There are 1,355 counties in Mainland China out of a total of 2,851 county-level divisions. In Taiwan , the first counties were first established in 1661 by the Kingdom of Tungning . The later ruler Qing empire inherited this type of administrative divisions. With

7000-532: The life of the thunderstorm. The downdraft will push down out of the thunderstorm, hit the ground and spread out. This phenomenon is known as a downburst . The cool air carried to the ground by the downdraft cuts off the inflow of the thunderstorm, the updraft disappears and the thunderstorm will dissipate. Thunderstorms in an atmosphere with virtually no vertical wind shear weaken as soon as they send out an outflow boundary in all directions, which then quickly cuts off its inflow of relatively warm, moist air, and kills

7100-609: The lowest 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) of the troposphere , which aids the development of stronger updrafts as well as various forms of severe weather. The supercell is the strongest of the thunderstorms, most commonly associated with large hail, high winds, and tornado formation. Precipitable water values of greater than 31.8 millimetres (1.25 in) favor the development of organized thunderstorm complexes. Those with heavy rainfall normally have precipitable water values greater than 36.9 millimetres (1.45 in). Upstream values of CAPE of greater than 800 J/kg are usually required for

7200-449: The mainstream as late as the 18th century. Martin Luther was out walking when a thunderstorm began, causing him to pray to God for being saved and promising to become a monk. Thunderstorms, evidenced by flashes of lightning , on Jupiter have been detected and are associated with clouds where water may exist as both a liquid and ice, suggesting a mechanism similar to that on Earth. (Water

7300-653: The most powerful thunderstorms over the United States occur in the Midwest and the Southern states . These storms can produce large hail and powerful tornadoes. Thunderstorms are relatively uncommon along much of the West Coast of the United States , but they occur with greater frequency in the inland areas, particularly the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys of California. In spring and summer, they occur nearly daily in certain areas of

7400-530: The next day. They tend to form when the surface temperature varies by more than 5 °C (9 °F) between day and night. The type that forms during the warm season over land has been noted across North America, Europe, and Asia, with a maximum in activity noted during the late afternoon and evening hours. Forms of MCS that develop in the tropics are found in use either the Intertropical Convergence Zone or monsoon troughs , generally within

7500-639: The north, has a 5501’ x 75’ paved runway. Commercial air transportation is available at the Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport, about 57 miles to the east. The Wichita, Tillman and Jackson Railway provides rail freight service. The public schools of Altus are in Oklahoma School District number 18. In the Altus Public School District there are nine schools, including five elementary schools, an intermediate school,

7600-526: The occurrence of one thunderstorm can develop an outflow boundary that sets up new thunderstorm development. Such storms are rarely severe and are a result of local atmospheric instability; hence the term "air mass thunderstorm". When such storms have a brief period of severe weather associated with them, it is known as a pulse severe storm. Pulse severe storms are poorly organized and occur randomly in time and space, making them difficult to forecast. Single-cell thunderstorms normally last 20–30 minutes. This

7700-537: The original site. W. R. Baucum suggested renaming the town "Altus", a Latin word meaning "high". This name stuck, although the town was also known as "Leger" from July 10, 1901, to May 14, 1904. The population doubled between the time of Oklahoma statehood and the 1910 census and even increased during the Great Depression . Although Altus had been designated as the Jackson county seat at the time of statehood, an election

7800-498: The phenomena of thunderstorms and have numerous hazards towards landscapes and populations. One of the more significant hazards lightning can pose is the wildfires they are capable of igniting. Under a regime of low precipitation (LP) thunderstorms, where little precipitation is present, rainfall cannot prevent fires from starting when vegetation is dry as lightning produces a concentrated amount of extreme heat. Direct damage caused by lightning strikes occurs on occasion. In areas with

7900-408: The population. There were 7,896 households, out of which 38.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.6% were married couples living together, 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.7% were non-families. 25.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and

8000-752: The provincial level, and thus county seats. In the provinces of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia the term "shire town" is used in place of county seat. County seats in China are the administrative centers of the counties in the People's Republic of China . Xian have existed since the Warring States period and were set up nationwide by the Qin dynasty . The number of counties in China proper gradually increased from dynasty to dynasty. As Qin Shi Huang reorganized

8100-426: The rising air reaches its dew point temperature, water vapor condenses into water droplets or ice, reducing pressure locally within the thunderstorm cell. Any precipitation falls the long distance through the clouds towards the Earth's surface. As the droplets fall, they collide with other droplets and become larger. The falling droplets create a downdraft as it pulls cold air with it, and this cold air spreads out at

8200-489: The role of a scientific curiosity. Every spring, storm chasers head to the Great Plains of the United States and the Canadian Prairies to explore the scientific aspects of storms and tornadoes through use of videotaping. Radio pulses produced by cosmic rays are being used to study how electric charges develop within thunderstorms. More organized meteorological projects such as VORTEX2 use an array of sensors, such as

8300-503: The same area, resulting in devastating flash flooding . A similar event occurred in Boscastle , England, on 16 August 2004, and over Chennai on 1 December 2015. Each year, many people are killed or seriously injured by severe thunderstorms despite the advance warning . While severe thunderstorms are most common in the spring and summer, they can occur at just about any time of the year. Cloud-to-ground lightning frequently occurs within

8400-526: The single-cell storm, yet much weaker than the supercell storm. Hazards with the multicell cluster include moderate-sized hail, flash flooding, and weak tornadoes. A squall line is an elongated line of severe thunderstorms that can form along or ahead of a cold front . In the early 20th century, the term was used as a synonym for cold front . The squall line contains heavy precipitation , hail , frequent lightning , strong straight line winds, and possibly tornadoes and waterspouts . Severe weather in

8500-764: The state's area, has no borough government or borough seat. One borough, the Lake and Peninsula Borough , has its borough seat located in another borough, namely King Salmon in Bristol Bay Borough . In Louisiana , which is divided into parishes rather than counties, county seats are referred to as "parish seats". In New England , counties have served mainly as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems. Rhode Island has no county level of government and thus no county seats, and Massachusetts has dissolved many but not all of its county governments. In Vermont , Massachusetts , and Maine county government consists only of

8600-443: The strongest type of thunderstorm. In the United States, a thunderstorm is classed as severe if winds reach at least 93 kilometres per hour (58 mph), hail is 25 millimetres (1 in) in diameter or larger, or if funnel clouds or tornadoes are reported. Although a funnel cloud or tornado indicates a severe thunderstorm, a tornado warning is issued in place of a severe thunderstorm warning . A severe thunderstorm warning

8700-592: The thunderstorm's further growth. The downdraft hitting the ground creates an outflow boundary . This can cause downbursts, a potential hazardous condition for aircraft to fly through, as a substantial change in wind speed and direction occurs, resulting in a decrease of airspeed and the subsequent reduction in lift for the aircraft. The stronger the outflow boundary is, the stronger the resultant vertical wind shear becomes. There are four main types of thunderstorms: single-cell, multi-cell, squall line (also called multi-cell line) and supercell. Which type forms depends on

8800-416: The towns involved, along with providing employment opportunities. There are 33 counties with multiple county seats in 11 states: Alaska is divided into boroughs rather than counties; the county seat in these case is referred to as the "borough seat"; this includes six consolidated city-borough governments (one of which is styled as a "municipality"). The Unorganized Borough, Alaska , which covers 49% of

8900-453: The tropics and subtropics can be responsible for the development of hurricanes . Dry thunderstorms , with no precipitation, can cause the outbreak of wildfires from the heat generated from the cloud-to-ground lightning that accompanies them. Several means are used to study thunderstorms: weather radar , weather stations , and video photography. Past civilizations held various myths concerning thunderstorms and their development as late as

9000-552: The updraft is strong enough, the droplets are held aloft long enough to become so large that they do not melt completely but fall as hail . While updrafts are still present, the falling rain drags the surrounding air with it, creating downdrafts as well. The simultaneous presence of both an updraft and a downdraft marks the mature stage of the storm and produces cumulonimbus clouds. During this stage, considerable internal turbulence can occur, which manifests as strong winds, severe lightning, and even tornadoes . Typically, if there

9100-538: The use of county seats in particular, will fully transition with the permission of the United States Census Bureau to a system of councils of government for the purposes of boundary definition and as county equivalents. Two counties in South Dakota , Oglala Lakota and Todd , have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county. Their county-level services are provided by Fall River County and Tripp County , respectively. In Virginia ,

9200-464: The various monsoon seasons around the globe, and they populate the rainbands of tropical cyclones . In temperate regions, they are most frequent in spring and summer, although they can occur along or ahead of cold fronts at any time of year. They may also occur within a cooler air mass following the passage of a cold front over a relatively warmer body of water. Thunderstorms are rare in polar regions because of cold surface temperatures. Some of

9300-539: The warm season between spring and fall. More intense systems form over land than over water. One exception is that of lake-effect snow bands, which form due to cold air moving across relatively warm bodies of water, and occurs from fall through spring. Polar lows are a second special class of MCS. They form at high latitudes during the cold season. Once the parent MCS dies, later thunderstorm development can occur in connection with its remnant mesoscale convective vortex (MCV). Mesoscale convective systems are important to

9400-454: The water vapor condenses into liquid, latent heat is released, which warms the air, causing it to become less dense than the surrounding, drier air. The air tends to rise in an updraft through the process of convection (hence the term convective precipitation ). This process creates a low-pressure zone within and beneath the forming thunderstorm. In a typical thunderstorm, approximately 500 million kilograms of water vapor are lifted into

9500-742: Was $ 30,217, and the median income for a family was $ 38,400. Males had a median income of $ 28,041 versus $ 18,856 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 15,378. About 14.6% of families and 17.2% of the population were below the poverty line , including 22.7% of those under age 18 and 12.8% of those age 65 or over. U.S. Routes 62 and 283 cross in the center of Altus. US 62 leads east 73 miles (117 km) to Lawton , and west 66 miles (106 km) to Childress, Texas , while US 283 leads north 23 miles (37 km) to Mangum , and south 34 miles (55 km) to Vernon, Texas . Altus/Quartz Mountain Regional Airport (KAXS; FAA ID: AXS), 3 miles to

9600-400: Was an independent city from 1968 to 2013, while also being the county seat of Bedford County . Bedford reverted to an incorporated town, and remains the county seat, though is now part of the county. The state with the most counties is Texas, with 254, and the state with the fewest counties is Delaware, with 3. Thunderstorm A thunderstorm , also known as an electrical storm or

9700-568: Was divided into 8 prefectures ( 州 and 廳 ), which remained after the Republic of China took over. There are 13 county seats in Taiwan, which function as county-administered cities , urban townships , or rural townships . In most of the United States , a county is an administrative or political subdivision of a state that consists of a geographic area with specific boundaries and usually some level of governmental authority. The city, town, or populated place that houses county government

9800-569: Was founded in 1886. The community was originally called "Frazer", a settlement of about 50 people on Bitter Creek that served as a trading post on the Great Western Cattle Trail . Cowboys driving herds northward often stopped to buy buttermilk from John McClearan. Thus, the town was known locally as "Buttermilk Station". The Frazer post office opened February 18, 1886. A flash flood nearly destroyed Frazer on June 4, 1891. The residents moved to higher ground 2.5 miles (4.0 km) east of

9900-452: Was held in 1908 to determine the permanent seat. The two towns contending were Altus and Olustee . Altus won by a vote of 2,077 to 1,365. The county courthouse was built there in 1910. An irrigation project in the 1940s and World War II led to further growth in the town as the nearby airfield was used to train military pilots. In 1908, the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway (acquired by

10000-457: Was recorded twice in 1936. Autumn is brief, with generally very warm afternoons and comfortably cool mornings, while winter is extremely variable. Chinook winds can sometimes raise temperatures to uncomfortably hot even in the low winter sun, in the process often drying out vegetation to produce wildfires . On the other hand, if a block forms over the Gulf of Alaska very cold air can be driven into

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