http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/09/130924-global-warming-climate-change-thunderstorms-tornadoes/?rptregcta=reg_free_np&rptregcampaign=20130924_rw_membership_r1p_w#finished
This article describes studies that are beginning to be done to test if global warming will increase the severity of thunderstorms. Models have been created to test the effects of global warming on the amount of thunderstorms that occur. Convective available potential energy(CAPE) is one of the two components necessary to cause thunderstorms. This occurs when the temperature of the lower atmosphere rises, so global warming makes CAPE present much more often than it would be. On the other hand, global warming seemed to decrease vertical wind shear, they other component for thunderstorms, however the only time the wind shear was decreased was on days that CAPE was low. This means that there are high amounts of wind shear on days with high CAPE which increases the chance of thunderstorms. Unfortunately the models are unable to show if the thunderstorms will become more severe, but they show us that the amount of thunderstorms does increase greatly.
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