What Is Inflow?
The warm, moist air flowing into a thunderstorm to feed its updraft. In technical terms: Low-level environmental air entering a convective updraft, often storm-relative from the southeast in Plains supercells; strong storm-relative inflow and helicity support sustained rotating updrafts, sometimes visible as inflow bands or beaver-tail clouds.
Inflow In Plain English
The warm, moist air flowing into a thunderstorm to feed its updraft.
The Technical Definition
Low-level environmental air entering a convective updraft, often storm-relative from the southeast in Plains supercells; strong storm-relative inflow and helicity support sustained rotating updrafts, sometimes visible as inflow bands or beaver-tail clouds.
