Thunderstorms can produce damaging straight-line winds, hail, heavy rain, deadly lightning and tornadoes….At a Glance

• An estimated 16 million thunderstorms occur on Earth every year.
• In the United States alone, an estimated 100,000 thunderstorms occur each year.
• There are four main types of thunderstorms.

Storms are created when a center of low pressure develops with the system of high pressure surrounding it. Small localized areas of low pressure can form from hot air rising off hot ground, resulting in smaller disturbances such as dust devils and whirlwinds.

Mature thunderstorms often reach 40,000 to 60,000 feet, and it is not unheard of to see thunderstorms reach upward of 75,000 feet in the tropics. Generally the taller the thunderstorm is, the more intense and dangerous its sensible weather are.

Jet aircraft can safely fly over thunderstorms only if their flight altitude is well above the turbulent cloud tops. The most intense and turbulent storms are often the tallest storms, so en route flights always seek to go around them.

Since a tornado is essentially a supercell thunderstorm, pilots can fly around it. But due to the nature of the storm, cancellations and diversions are the safest bet. Hence no, most commercial planes wouldn’t fly through a tornado.

The smell is probably ozone, which typically has a sweet, pungent aroma. In stormy weather, lightning splits atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen molecules. These can then combine into nitric oxide, which, with further reactions, forms ozone.

Although conventional wisdom and lay literature, based on impressionistic findings in the 1920s, have long presented human olfaction as capable of distinguishing between roughly 10,000 unique odors, recent research has suggested that the average individual is capable of distinguishing over one trillion unique odors.

While the taste and odor can be unpleasant, geosmin is not toxic or harmful. The water remains safe to drink. On-going testing continues to show an absence of harmful bacteria and other pathogens in the water.

What are environmental odors? Many substances in the environment can produce odors. You typically smell these odors when you are outdoors and sometimes when you are indoors with your windows open. You may smell and react to certain chemicals in the air before they are at harmful levels.

A wet dog smell coming out of your sink or faucet often indicates a buildup of bacteria if you have a well. In this scenario, you would want to treat the well water with chlorine.