Hot tower

A hot tower is a tropical cumulonimbus cloud that penetrates the tropopause, i.e. it reaches out of the lowest layer of the atmosphere, the troposphere, into the stratosphere. In the tropics, the tropopause typically lies at least 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) above sea level. These towers are called "hot" because they rise high due to the large amount of latent heat released as water vapor condenses into liquid and freezes into ice. The presence of hot towers with a tropical cyclone's eyewall can indicate strengthening is more likely during the next six hours.