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Can the air mass continental tropical produce thunderstorms?

I have to tell what air mass(continental polar/tropical or maritime polar/tropical) causes thunderstoms in the deserts of southwest Unites States. The problem is i dont know if continental tropical makes thunderstorms or does it cross over with maritime tropical.

Public Comments

1. The continental tropical (cT) air mass is a very warm and dry air mass that has a desert for a source region such as the Southwest desert of the U.S. or the Sahara Desert of North Africa. The problem I am having in thinking about this question, there are very few air masses that are pure one thing or another. Air masses are always in a state of change (sort of like weather in general). If you are talking purely and only cT, I think I would say no, thunderstorms can not develop. But, having said that, since all air masses are in a constant state of change, there is always interaction between one air mass and another. Either on the at the surface boundaries or in the upper part of the atmosphere. A good example would be the dry line of the southern plains of the U.S. That is usually the area where the cT air mass is up against the maritime tropical (mT)air mass off the Gulf of Mexico during the spring and can be the triggering mechanism for severe thunderstorms. The other problem is the moisture of the a mT moving into a cT source region will ride the slightly more dense air of the cT air mass and produce elevated thunderstorms which produce a large part of the meager rainfall of the desert areas. (Example, the Southwest monsoonal flow of the U.S. during the summer months.) So I would have to say that any rain in a cT source region is an interaction or a transformation of a mT air mass as it changes towards becoming a cT air mass. Not sure if this helps or not, I may be rambling on.