Weather Phenomena and Storms

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Air-mass Thunderstorms

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Type of thunderstorm in which air rises because of unequal heating of Earth's surface within a single air mass and is most common during the afternoon and evening.

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Frontal Thunderstorms

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A thunderstorm that is produced by advancing cold fronts and, more rarely, warm fronts.

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Sea-breeze Thunderstorms

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Local air-mass thunderstorms that occur because land and water store and release thermal energy differently.

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Downbursts

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A localized area of strong winds in a downdraft beneath a severe thunderstorm.

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Fujita Tornado Intensity Scale

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Scale used to rate a tornado's intensity.

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Supercell

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Extremely powerful, self-sustaining thunderstorm characterized by intense, rotating updrafts.

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Lightning

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A sudden spark, or energy discharge, caused when electrical charges jump between parts of a cloud, between nearby clouds, or between a cloud and the ground.

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Tornado

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A mobile, destructive vortex of violently rotating winds having the appearance of a funnel-shaped cloud and advancing beneath a large storm system.

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Hurricane

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A severe storm that develops over tropical oceans and whose strong winds of more than 120 km/h spiral in toward the intensely low-pressure storm center.

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Eye

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Center of a hurricane where air is calm.