earth science

List of severe weather phenomena

List of severe weather phenomena is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of severe weather phenomena rather than just read about it. In short: Severe weather phenomena are weather conditions that are hazardous to human life and property. Severe weather can occur under a variety of situations, but three characteristics are generally needed: a temperature or moisture boundary, moisture, and (in the event of severe, precipitation-based events) instability in the atmosphere.

Key takeaways

List of severe weather phenomena belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of severe weather phenomena to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of severe weather phenomena from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Severe weather phenomena are weather conditions that are hazardous to human life and property.

Severe weather can occur under a variety of situations, but three characteristics are generally needed: a temperature or moisture boundary, moisture, and (in the event of severe, precipitation-based events) instability in the atmosphere.

Examples

Atmospheric Fog Haar (fog) Ice fog

Electrical storms Thunderstorm Derecho Multicellular thunderstorm Pulse storm Squall line Storm cell (single-cell) Supercells, rotating thunderstorms Lightning

Fire Wildfire or bushfire (ignition of wildfires is sometimes by lightning strike, especially in "dry thunderstorms") Firestorm Fire whirl, also called firenado and fire tornado

Flood Floods Flash flood Coastal flooding Tidal flooding Storm surge

Oceans and bodies of water Harmful algal bloom Blue green algae Red tide High seas Sneaker wave High tides King tide Ice shove Rogue wave Seiche Swell (ocean) Tidal surge Storm surge Rip currents Undertow (water waves) Whirlpools

Snow Avalanche Blizzard Lake effect snow Snownado Snow devil Polar vortex

Ice Black ice Glaze ice Hailstorm Ice shove Ice storm Megacryometeor

Rain Acid rain Blood rain Cold drop (Spanish: gota fría; archaic as a meteorological term), colloquially, any high impact rainfall event along the Mediterranean coast of Spain Drought, a prolonged water supply shortage, often caused by persistent lack of, or much reduced, rainfall Floods Flash flood Rainstorm Red rain in Kerala (for related phenomena, see Blood rain) Monsoon

Surface movement Avalanche Mass wasting and landslips Earthquake Landslide Debris flows Mudslide Rockfall Coastal erosion Sinkhole

Temperature Cold wave Heat wave Heat burst Polar vortex

Volcano Volcanic eruption Volcanic lightning Volcanic ash

Wind Cyclones Extratropical cyclone European windstorms Australian east coast low "Medicane", Mediterranean tropical-like cyclones Polar cyclone Tropical cyclone, also called a hurricane, typhoon, or just "cyclone" Subtropical cyclone Australian east coast low Explosive cyclogenesis or weather bomb Dust storm Haboob Dust devil Sandstorm Hurricane Katabatic winds Bohemian wind Bora Piteraq Gregale Anabatic wind Valley exit jet Santa Ana winds Foehn wind Williwaws Chinook Gale Monsoon Nor’easter Nor'westers Steam devil Squall Straight-line winds Derecho Tornado (also colloquially referred to as a "whirlwind" or "twister") Landspout Gustnado, a "gust front tornado" Waterspout Winter storms Wind gust Windstorm Gust front

Other Heat lightning Zud, widespread livestock death, mainly by starvation, caused by climatic conditions Hayfever

Phenomena caused by severe thunderstorms Derecho Extreme wind (70 mph or greater) Downpours Heavy rain Flood, flash flood, coastal flooding Hail High winds – 93 km/h(58 mph) or higher. Lightning (Upper-atmospheric lightning) Thundersnow, Snowsquall Tornado Windstorm (gradient pressure induced) Severe thunderstorm (hailstorm, downburst: microbursts and macrobursts)

Severe weather caused by humans Air pollution

See also Extreme weather List of weather-related phenomena Meteorology Severe weather terminology (United States) Space weather

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of severe weather phenomena

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of severe weather phenomena claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of severe weather phenomena before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of severe weather phenomena ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of severe weather phenomena

In research: List of severe weather phenomena appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of severe weather phenomena in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of severe weather phenomena is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Glossaries of meteorology, Lists of natural disasters, Lists of phenomena, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of severe weather phenomena outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of severe weather phenomena in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of severe weather phenomena means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain List of severe weather phenomena out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of severe weather phenomena in simple terms?

Severe weather phenomena are weather conditions that are hazardous to human life and property. Severe weather can occur under a variety of situations, but three characteristics are generally needed: a temperature or moisture boundary, moisture, and (in the event of severe, precipitation-based event…

Why does List of severe weather phenomena matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of severe weather phenomena?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of severe weather phenomena.