A hot tower is a tropical cumulonimbus cloud that penetrates the tropopause, i.e. it reaches out of the lowest layer of the atmosphere, the troposphere, into the stratosphere. In the tropics, the tropopause typically lies at least 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) above sea level. These towers are called "hot" because they rise high due to the large amount of latent heat released as water vapor condenses into liquid and freezes into ice. The presence of hot towers with a tropical cyclone's eyewall can indicate strengthening is more likely during the next six hours.
Read more about Hot Tower: Origin of Term, Effects On Tropical Cyclones
Famous quotes containing the words hot and/or tower:
“Helen. In love, i’faith, to the very tip of the nose.
Paris. He eats nothing but doves, love, and that breeds hot blood, and hot blood begets hot thoughts, and hot thoughts beget hot deeds, and hot deeds is love.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“If God made me a princess, why didn’t he take a little more time and make my hair so it wouldn’t snarl?”
—Robert N. Lee. Rowland V. Lee. Princess, Tower of London, while the Princess’ mother is combing her hair (1939)