List of severe weather phenomena

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[]

Storms
Thunderstorms
- Multicellular thunderstorm
- Pulse storm
- Squall line
- Storm cell (single-cell)
- Supercells, rotating thunderstorms

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

Inundation[]

Floods

Oceans and bodies of water[]

Harmful algal bloom
- Blue green algae
- Red tide
High seas
High tides
Ice shove
Rogue wave
Seiche
Swell (ocean)
Tidal surge
Rip currents
Undertow (water waves)
Whirlpools

Precipitation[]

Snow[]

Avalanche
Blizzard
Lake effect snow
Snownado
- Snow devil

Ice[]

Black ice
Glaze ice
Hailstorm
Ice storm
Megacryometeor

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 caused by persistent lack of, or much reduced, rainfall
Floods
- Flash flood
Rainstorm
Red rain in Kerala (for related phenomena, see Blood rain)

Surface movement[]

Avalanche
Mass wasting and landslips
- Landslide
- Mudslide
- Rockfall

Thermal[]

Wind[]

Cyclones
- Extratropical cyclone
  - European windstorms
- "Medicane", Mediterranean tropical-like cyclones
- Polar cyclone
- Tropical cyclone, also called a hurricane, typhoon, or just "cyclone"
- Subtropical cyclone
Explosive cyclogenesis or weather bomb
Dust storm
- Haboob
- Dust devil
- Sandstorm
Hurricane
Katabatic winds
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

Other[]

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

Some related meteorological terms:

Phenomena caused by severe thunderstorms[]

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
Thundersnow, Snowsquall
Tornado
Windstorm (gradient pressure induced)
Severe thunderstorm (hailstorm, downburst: microbursts and macrobursts)