Atomic bomb anvil clouds explode in the sky off Gabicce, Italy

The following insane pictures of atomic bomb anvil clouds were captured by Gianuca Prioli off Gabicce, Italy on January 17, 2016.

These explosive cumulonimbus clouds formed on the Adriatic Sea within the inflow of cold air of these last days bringing towards Marche coast short but heavy snow showers.

Images from these surreal couds are from Gianluca Priori: Flickr account and Facebook page.

Also known as cumulonimbus incus, these anvil clouds are out of this world and look like a giant nuclear explosion mushroom cloud.

The characteristic flat, anvil-top shape of the cloud forms when the cumulonimbus has reached the level of stratospheric stability and when the updraft is strong and vigorous.

Interestingly, the “anvil” of convective clouds in those pictures is rather low, because the level of the tropopause is much lower in winter than other seasons in particular when it’s cold.

Anvil clouds form into mature supercells resulting in severe storm phenomena such as tornadoes, flash flooding and downbursts as confirmed by small but vigurous snow showers.

Here the results of this extreme storm:

So I hope that on January 17, 2016, Gianluca Prioli took immediatly shelter after taking his thundering pictures.

Images @ Gianluca Priori: Flickr account and Facebook page

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