Hector (cloud) is known for its consistency and intensity. Lightning rates and updraft speeds are notable aspects of this thunderstorm and during the 1990s National Geographic Magazine published a comprehensive study of the storm with pictures of damaged trees and details of updraft speeds and references to tornadic events. Since the late 1980s the thunderstorm has been the subject of many meteorological studies, many centred on Hector itself but also utilising the consistency of the storm cell to study other aspects of thunderstorms and lightning. Hector (cloud) Hector is the name given to a cumulonimbus, or thundercloud, that forms regularly nearly every
Cloud at which the air becomes saturated. The main mechanism behind this process is adiabatic cooling. As the air is cooled to its dew point and becomes saturated, water vapor normally condenses to form cloud drops. This condensation normally occurs on cloud condensation nuclei such as salt or dust particles that are small enough to be held aloft by normal circulation of the air. Frontal and cyclonic lift occur when stable air is forced aloft at weather fronts and around centers of low pressure by a process called convergence. Warm fronts associated with extratropical cyclones tend to generate mostly cirriform and