Mmmm... Popcorn Storms...
At some point in meteorology, a weather weenie coined the term "popup thunderstorms" to describe the isolated thunderstorms that quickly begin, apropos nothing, on summer days. At some point, this term changed to "popcorn storms" (probably because visible satellite loops of them look like popcorn popping in a pan, because the clouds are white and they suddenly explode between shots). A NOAA glossary entry explains further:
Such was the weather situation yesterday afternoon in New York state when a few of these kernels popped into strong storms (see radar map below courtesy AccuWeather.com RadarPlus).
I had heard mention of them in the forecast but wasn't sure any had formed until Photo Gallery user jack10562 uploaded this shot from Elmsford (shown by the "X" on the radar map above). CNN gave some on-air radar time to the storm a little later as it approached NYC.
jack10562 says:
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