Appearance
Cumulonimbus clouds typically are accompanied by lower altitude cumulus clouds, growing vertically instead of horizontally, contributing to the mushroom shape of the cumulonimbus. The cumulonimbus base may extend several miles across and occupy low to middle altitudes- formed at altitude from approximately 500 to 13,000 feet (150 to 3,960 meters). Peaks typically reach to as much as 20,000 feet (6,090 meters), with extreme instances as high as 75,000 feet (23,000 meters). Well-developed cumulonimbus clouds are characterized by a flat, anvil-like top (anvil dome), caused by wind shear or inversion near the tropopause. The shelf of the anvil may precede the main cloud's vertical component for many miles, and be accompanied by lightning. Occasionally, rising air parcels surpass the equilibrium level (due to momentum) and form an overshooting top culminating at the maximum parcel level. when vertically developed, this largest of all clouds usually extends through all three cloud regions. Even the smallest cumulonimbus clouds dwarfs its neighbours in comparison.
Read more about this topic: Cumulonimbus Cloud
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—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)