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Weather Terms
| Terms below are my own definitions based on experience or knowledge gained over the years. |
| Lightning A discharge of static electricity that can move through the air and heat it to 5 times hotter than the sun. |
| Tornado A violently rotating column of air connected from the base of a thunderstorm to the ground |
| Thunderstorm An often small or brief weather disturbance that produces rain, thunder and lightning. |
| Hurricane Vast area of thunderstorms that forms over warm water, has sustained winds of at least 74 mph, right-front quadrant usually has worst activity, can produce tornadoes and heavy rain |
| Tropical Cyclone Generic term used to describe a warm core, closed circulation of thunderstorms in the ocean, applies to hurricanes, tropical storms and tropical depressions |
| Tropical Storm Swirling complex of thunderstorms in the ocean with sustained winds of at least 39 mph, may have an eye, grows from Tropical Depression, given a name, can produce tornadoes and heavy rain |
| Tropical Depression Unnamed swirling complex of thunderstorms in the ocean |
| Wind An invisible stream of air often generated by high and low pressure. |
| Wind Gust Short burst of wind |
| Flood Rising water from a water source, either due to rainfall or a blockage. |
| Freezing Rain Supercooled rain drops that reache a layer of air at or below 32 degress that freezes on contact with cold surfaces |
| Avalanche Snow cascading down a mountain due to a weakness in the mountain's snow layer. |
| Blizzard Blowing or falling snow that reduces visability to 3/4 of a mile or less for 3 hours or more as a result of winds at or above 35 mph. |
| Snow Ice crystals that bond together high in the clouds and fall to the ground. |
| Drought Little-to-no rainfall, typically in areas that are more known for getting rain. |
| Ice Storm A weather event where freezing rain accumulation reaches at least 0.5" |
| Volcano An often tall, cone-shaped mountain with a hole at its peak that can shot ash, molten rock and lava into the air and/or downhill. |
| Cumulus Clouds Clouds resembling cotton wool and often dubbed "fair weather" clouds |
| Cumulonimbus Clouds Thunderstorm clouds that tower high into the sky, often pointed at one end at the top |
| Cirrus Clouds Wispy clouds made from ice crystals and are often higher up than other clouds. |
| Altocumulus Clouds Similar to Cumulus clouds, except smaller and more abundant. |
| Supercell The most dangerous of all thunderstorms, can produce tornadoes if the conditions are right |
| Squall Line A line of severe thunderstorms that often bring strong wind, heavy rain and sometimes quick spin-up tornadoes in its "kinks" |
| Mesocyclone A part of a supercell that allows the storm to rotate |
| Dryline A weather boundary separating warm, moist air from warm, dry air, typically forms between a warm front and a cold front |
| Cold Front A weather boundary that cools the air behind it, and sometimes ahead of it with thunderstorms, often depicted blue with spikes |
| Warm Front A weather boundary that warms the air below it, often accompanied by a cold front and depicted red with bumps |
| Occluded Front A weather boundary that forms as a mixture of a warm and cold front, often making the weather system more potent, typically depicted purple |
| Warm Sector The area between a warm and cold front where severe weather is most likely |
| Barametric Pressure A measurement of air pressure, with low pressure indicationg some sort of storm. |
| Dew Point Literally the temp needed to get dew to form, also a measurement of moisture in the air, higher dew point increases humidity |
| Feels Like The temperature your body feels it is, can be higher or lower than air temperature, sometimes called "Wind Chill" or "Heat Index" |
| Watch Weather bulletin for favorable weather conditions for the watch's category (tornadoes for a Tornado Watch, etc), often issued hours in advance and lasts for several hours |
| Warning Weather bulletin for a weather event happening or about to happen for those it involves, often issued half an hour in advance, usually lasts half-an-hour, can be longer if the conditions persist |