What is an overshooting top?

Question

What is an overshooting top?

Answer 1

An overshooting top is where some of the "bubbling" part of a thunderstorm bulges upward above the flat anvil top of the storm.  It indicates an area where the updraft is so strong it  continues to rise a distance into the stable part of the upper atmosphere.

Here is a good pic of a storm with an overshooting top:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenmacie...

Put your cursor on the pic and then over the small white box that appears at the top of the storm.  That's the overshooting top, the smaller bubble of cloud above the flat, blown out anvil cloud at the top of the storm.