The storm was initially considered a tornado but was later declared a "thunderstorm super cell moist microburst" by meteorologists.

Stronger thunderstorm cells are capable of producing tornadoes and waterspouts.

Organized, long-lived thunderstorm cells and complexes move at a right angle to the direction of the vertical wind shear vector.

The Lemon technique is a method used by meteorologists using weather radar to determine the relative strength of thunderstorm cells in a vertically sheared environment.

I guessed it had been a thunderstorm cell about the size of a city block.

However, on February 4, the thunderstorm cells remained elevated and linear, and no tornadoes were reported.

Radar vectored them around the worst thunderstorm cells and lined them up for a long straight-in approach out of the west direct to Runway 10.

A thunderstorm cell formed south of Long Island around 10:20 am, and became a supercell sometime later after interacting with a surface low-pressure center.

At 1732 the flight entered an area of thunderstorm cells around St. Louis International Airport.

One person involved in the investigation, who insisted on anonymity, said the captain had said that he had been trying to fly between two thunderstorm cells.