"Martin Rowley" wrote :
On 2008-08-13, Pete L wrote:

Last night on a quiz show (Eggheads) the question was asked, 'What is an
anvil crawler?

During my 30 years plus working for the Met Office, I have never heard
'Anvil Crawler' before. Just reading about it now and it's an American
term to describe lightning forks travelling across the underside of
the thundercloud. Has anybody in UK ever heard this term mentioned?


... caught me out too. Because of the 'anvil' reference, I thought vaguely
about thunderstorms, but couldn't place the exact definition (before the
answer was given!)

Mind you, there are a lot of terms that the severe convective community
use
in the US that aren't well know over here.

Did the contestant get it right? Presumably it was one of the
non-multiple choice questions. Given plenty of time and head-
scratching I might have bluffed "a specific meteorological
feature of some cumulonimbus clouds."

Speaking of which, there was extensive and long-lived
anvil cirrus here yesterday during the late-afternoon and
evening with an excellent and long-lasting display of mamma,
latterly lit by the setting sun. Sadly no pics as I was
travelling and hadn't pocketed my camera.

Philip
(S.Beds)