I'm a flight instructor looking for a better way to drive home the dangers related to flying in and around thunderstorms (TS). The FAA has mountains of operational guidance for airmen regarding TS avoidance but I'm looking for a punchy way to make the point stick with a technically correct comparison to a known quantity. An example of what I'd like to have is:
"Think of it this way: over the course of 15 minutes, an average TS will release the energy roughly equal to //a well known event//."
Published guidance is basically, "TS are really, really dangerous. Like, really...for real. Up and down drafts can exceed 60mph and momentary jolts can easily exceed aircraft design limits [+3.8G and -1.5G for a typical general aviation plane]. Only fly on the upwind side and even then stay 20mi away because TS have been known to fling hail the size of watermelons miles downrange."
The technical guidance that is published is not meant for flight students and few pilots, even professionals, care about weather enough to learn more that what is required to pass tests.
Question: how much energy is dissipated (from maturity to dissipation) through the lifecycle of a TS?