How Does a Magical Cloud Factory Create Supercells?

  • Thread starter Thread starter LuckyStampede
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Cloud Work
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the conceptualization of a magical cloud factory that produces supercells for a fantasy novel. Participants explore the plausibility of such a factory, the mechanisms for generating moisture, and the manipulation of weather phenomena, including the dynamics of tornadoes and supercells.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests that generating moisture could involve using a nearby lake or underground river, or possibly using magic to create moisture from air.
  • Another participant proposes that depositing moisture into the upper atmosphere might mimic natural supercell formation.
  • There is a discussion on how to prevent the supercell from discharging energy prematurely, with ideas including creating high and low-pressure zones or using a shield to inhibit electrical transfer.
  • A participant mentions that the cloud factories would likely be situated along a river for a constant water supply, and they inquire about efficient methods to evaporate water into the air.
  • One participant describes the capabilities of winged humanoids in the story, who can manipulate weather patterns and control moisture, suggesting that their actions could be labor-intensive but feasible.
  • There is a question about the effects of reversing the downdraft in a tornado, with one participant suggesting that a strong updraft could cause temporary disruption.
  • Another participant discusses inducing a cooling effect in the clouds as a way to disrupt a tornado, explaining that this could remove moisture and dissipate the storm.
  • A character's plan to fly up the downdraft of a tornado and superchill the air in the updraft is presented as a potential climax in the story, with the storm being described as sentient and influenced by an eldritch horror.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express various ideas and hypotheses about the mechanics of the magical cloud factory and the manipulation of weather, but there is no consensus on the specifics of these mechanisms or their plausibility.

Contextual Notes

The discussion includes speculative elements about the interaction of magical and physical processes, and the limitations of real-world weather phenomena are acknowledged but not resolved.

Who May Find This Useful

Writers and creators interested in fantasy world-building, particularly those exploring the integration of magic with scientific principles in storytelling.

LuckyStampede
Admittedly, this is a rather strange request. I am an author researching my first fantasy novel, and I'm trying to create at least some degree of verisimilitude for regular physics in a world that has powerful magic. One plot point is that a city has created a superweapon in the form of a controllable supercell, and they have several huge factories pumping out the moisture to feed the thunderstorm. They have ways to create the right atmospheric conditions to support the supercell and also keep it from actually discharging any of its energy until they are ready.

If this is at least somewhat plausible, given some magic but not using it as a handwave, what would be in one of the cloud factories? Just boiling off huge amounts of water to create the vapor necessary seems rather prosaic.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Well without knowing how you plan on organizing/discribing your magic system I can only provide suggestions.

according to This a supercell forms in a very particular manner

First step would be generating the Moisture necessary. maybe they use a near by lake or underground river, or drain directly from the aquifer. Unless of course they generate the moisture out of the air directly using some sort of energy to matter magic :)

Then they would need to find a way to deposit the moisture into the upper atmosphere, likely using the same format as a naturally forming supercell. Check the anatomy section of the above link

After they created the supercell they would need a way to move it, probably by creating high pressure zones "Behind" the cell and potentially Low pressure zones where they are targeting and letting it slide into position.

As for preventing the discharge along the way, it's really depends on how they handled the other problems, but the simplest solution is some kind of shield the slows or stops electrical transfer to the ground. Hopefully it would also build up more energy as it moves.

Hope this helps
 
Thank you for the reply.

That is a good idea about the river. The city they are working in is situated on a major river, so the cloud factories would likely be set up along its banks. That way they have a constant supply of water and then it's just a matter of evaporating it, by boiling like I said or perhaps some other method. What would be the most efficient method to actually get that water into the air?

The other parts you mentioned are actually easier. My world has multiple magical paradigms, but the one most relevant is that the creatures doing this are winged humanoids with the ability to physically effect the weather. They can push clouds around, strike them to create targeted lightning, or cause small, localized wind patterns by just moving rapidly with intent (larger ones if they act in concert). Getting the moisture into the upper atmosphere, preventing the cloud from discharging its energy, and moving the cloud into position once it's ready are labor intensive, but doable.

On a slightly related issue, what would happen if some force were to suddenly and violently reverse the downdraft at the center of a large tornado?
 
Ha in D&D I love playing flying races.

Depending on what you mean by a reverse of the downdraft

If your talking about just creating a straight updraft then the most likely result would be a temporary disruption.

If you created an opposing Updraft (that is one that follows the same angle, and rotation as the downdraft. The result would most likely be the same. Although (don't know if its possible.) I suppose a sort of wave cancellation could happen but would not address the root cause of a Tornado, which takes place high in the sky.
 
As I mentioned, some of them can change the course of winds by moving that direction, I was visualizing a very strong one flying straight up the tornado's downdraft.

Since simply reversing the central downdraft would not work, what sort of action would create a situation that might possibly be described as a "catastrophic disruption"? :bugeye:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
If your talking about a way to stop the tornado in its tracks, and cause damage.

I think the more likely was would be to induce a cooling effect in the clouds. Tornadoes form from air moving at different rates, and convection currents are what drive these winds. by cooling the air you do two things

1. You remove the Moisture from the air. it would probably come down as snow/sleet/rain or (if cooled fast enough Hail)
2. Without the hot air to drive the super-cell's winds the whole storm would likely dissipate
 
Okay, thanks. That is actually very, very workable. The character who would be doing this is a demigod of sorts with power over things related to night, including cold. She's also supposed to be highly intelligent and creative. So putting it all together, the cloud factories are feeding moisture into the supercell, the attendants are keeping it from wasting its energy, and the weather pattern itself has become self-sustaining via the convection currents.

So when fighting the storm, forces on the ground have taken out the cloud factories and airborne forces have distracted the attendants, allowing the storm to start taking its natural course. So for the final blow, how does it sound if she were to fly up the downdraft of a large tornado to temporarily disrupt it, then superchill the air in the middle of the cloud formation's warm updraft?

Oh, I should probably mention (I could have sworn I did somewhere) that the storm itself has become sentient and possessed by an eldritch horror. Thanks for the help. It's good to have a little verisimilitude even in the most unrealistic of scenes.
 
LuckyStampede said:
So when fighting the storm, forces on the ground have taken out the cloud factories and airborne forces have distracted the attendants, allowing the storm to start taking its natural course. So for the final blow, how does it sound if she were to fly up the downdraft of a large tornado to temporarily disrupt it, then superchill the air in the middle of the cloud formation's warm updraft?

That should have the desired effect of stopping the storm in its tracks.

LuckyStampede said:
Oh, I should probably mention (I could have sworn I did somewhere) that the storm itself has become sentient and possessed by an eldritch horror. Thanks for the help. It's good to have a little verisimilitude even in the most unrealistic of scenes.

Nope. no mention of it being a Sentient Eldritch Horror. :smile:
Also I'm just happy it helped, and Since I forgot to mention earlier Welcome to the fourms