Hector (cloud)

Hector viewed from Stokes Hill Wharf in Darwin looking northwest at a distance of approximately 80 km (50 mi)

Hector is a cumulonimbus thundercloud cluster that forms regularly nearly every afternoon on the Tiwi Islands in the Northern Territory of Australia, from approximately September to March each year.[1][2][3] Hector, or sometimes Hector the Convector, is known as one of the world's most consistently large thunderstorms; specifically, a small mesoscale convective system (MCS) or large multicellular thunderstorm. It reaches heights of approximately 20 kilometres (66,000 ft).[4][5]

  1. ^ The cloud called Hector. The Cloud Appreciation Society. Retrieved on 2010-11-30.
  2. ^ P. T. May; et al. (2009). "Aerosol and thermodynamic effects on tropical cloud systems during TWPICE and ACTIVE" (PDF). Atmos. Chem. Phys. 9 (1): 15–24. Bibcode:2009ACP.....9...15M. doi:10.5194/acp-9-15-2009.
  3. ^ Beringer, Jason; Tapper, Nigel J.; Keenan, Tom D. (2001). "Evolution of maritime continent thunderstorms under varying meteorological conditions over the Tiwi Islands" (PDF). International Journal of Climatology. 21 (8): 1021. Bibcode:2001IJCli..21.1021B. doi:10.1002/joc.622. S2CID 129777034. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 March 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  4. ^ Crook, N. Andrew (1 June 2001). "Understanding Hector: The Dynamics of Island Thunderstorms". Monthly Weather Review. 129 (6): 1550–1563. Bibcode:2001MWRv..129.1550C. doi:10.1175/1520-0493(2001)129<1550:UHTDOI>2.0.CO;2.
  5. ^ "Hector arrives promptly at 3pm. But Hector isn't a person". CNN. 2 April 2022.