Atmospheric Convection & Cloud Formation Simulator

Weather begins with a simple imbalance: sunlight heats the ground unevenly, the ground heats the air above it, and warm air rises because it is less dense than its surroundings. This simulator visualizes that convective engine directly — air parcels heat at the surface, rise and cool at the dry adiabatic lapse rate, and condense into visible cloud once they cross the lifting condensation level set by the current humidity. Cooled, saturated parcels eventually sink back down as simplified rainfall, closing the loop that drives real cumulus clouds and afternoon thunderstorms. Adjust surface heating, relative humidity and wind speed to see how each reshapes the height of the cloud base, the strength of the updraft and how far the whole column tilts downwind.