Rainband

Banding within the comma head precipitation pattern of an extratropical cyclone can yield significant amounts of rain or snow.

Behind extratropical cyclones, rainbands can form downwind of relative warm bodies of water such as the Great Lakes.

[4] Wider rain bands can occur behind cold fronts, which tend to have more stratiform, and less convective, precipitation.

[10] Rainbands within tropical cyclones require ample moisture and a low level pool of cooler air.

[14] Some rainbands move closer to the center, forming a secondary, or outer, eyewall within intense hurricanes.

[16] Within this method, the extent of spiral banding and difference in temperature between the eye and eyewall is used to assign a maximum sustained wind and a central pressure.

Convective rainbands can form parallel to terrain on its windward side, due to lee waves triggered by hills just upstream of the cloud's formation.

[21] The edge of ocean currents can lead to the development of thunderstorm bands due to heat differential at this interface.

Band of thunderstorms seen on a weather radar display
A February 24, 2007 radar image of a large extratropical cyclonic storm system at its peak over the central United States. Note the band of thunderstorms along its trailing cold front.
Photograph of rainbands in Hurricane Isidore