Physics Asked by Aziraphale on February 24, 2021
From the ground you obviously cannot hear any sound from a developing cumulus cloud, no matter how vigorous it is. BUT: Are there sound waves generated, e.g. at the cloud edges where there is a lot of wind shear, or within the cloud with adjacent updrafts and downdrafts?
Google yields some hits about trumpet sounds from clouds in Israel, but that seems like a hoax. I am also not talking about pelting rain or wind in trees, this is purely about noise within clouds.
It is a bit counterintuitive to imagine that a thunderstorm is totally silent (apart from the occasional flash/thunder, of couse). But then, maybe it is?
In general, turbulence will create some sound. For example, if we consider the turbulence generated by a jet, the main convective components of the turbulence will be silent, but supersonic phase speeds might generate some noise. See here for a study on this subject.
If we restrict ourselves to thunderstorms, lightning, and sprites, then there seems to be much research conducted concerning infrasound from the latter two phenomena--see here and here. The question of whether this infrasound from lightning storms can be detected by native fauna can be found here-- this is where I obtained the previous two citations. A more interesting study (which you might be more interested in) concerns the modeling of sound from vortices in thunderstorms. So, yes, it appears as if the turbulence and vortices in a thunderstorm do generate sound.
Correct answer by Joshuah Heath on February 24, 2021
I am listening to sound coming from a cloud as I type this. That is what brought me to this site. And, I might add, I am inside the house (with the doors open).
I live in Brazil and this is the second time I've heard a noisy large cumulo numbus cloud. The sound is continuous and the last time I heard such a cloud, the sound was audible for over 20 minutes. It sounds similar, in tone and volume, to a turbojet airliner flying over at medium-high altitude (about 20,000ft) and is just constant.
I'm guessing the sound is caused by severe winds within the cloud though I've not been able to find anthing about it on the internet (tried last time I heard one). I can't imagine what else could cause such a sound.
Answered by Antony Stringfellow on February 24, 2021
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