 A rainband is a cloud and precipitation structure associated with an area of rainfall which is significantly elongated . Rainbands can be stratiform or convective , and are generated by differences in temperature . When noted on weather radar imagery , this precipitation elongation is referred to as banded structure . Rainbands within tropical cyclones are curved in orientation . Tropical cyclone rainbands contain showers and thunderstorms that , together with the eyewall and the eye , constitute a hurricane or tropical storm . The extent of rainbands around a tropical cyclone can help determine the cyclone 's intensity . 
