El Niño /ɛl ˈniːnjoʊ/ (Spanish pronunciation: [el ˈniɲo]) is the warm phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (commonly called ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (between approximately the International Date Line and 120°W), including off the Pacific coast of South America.
Black ice
Black ice, sometimes called clear ice, refers to a thin coating of glaze ice on a surface, especially on roads.
Hail
Hail is a form of solid precipitation.
Monsoon
Monsoon (UK: /mɒnˈsuːn/; US: /mɑːnˈsuːn/) is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea.
Thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, lightning storm, or thundershower, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder.
Tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that rotates while in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud.
Tropical cyclone
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain.
Volcanic ash
Volcanic ash consists of fragments of pulverized rock, minerals and volcanic glass, created during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter.
Mudflow
A mudflow or mud flow is a form of mass wasting involving "very rapid to extremely rapid surging flow" of debris that has become partially or fully liquified by the addition of significant amounts of water to the source material.
Asian Dust
Asian Dust (also yellow dust, yellow sand, yellow wind or China dust storms) is a meteorological phenomenon which affects much of East Asia year round but especially during the spring months.
Storm
A storm is any disturbed state of an environment or astronomical body's atmosphere especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather.
Winter storm
A winter storm is an event in which the varieties of precipitation are formed that only occur at low temperatures, such as snow or sleet, or a rainstorm where ground temperatures are low enough to allow ice to form (i.e. freezing rain).
Effects of tropical cyclones
The main effects of tropical cyclones include heavy rain, strong wind, large storm surges at landfall, and tornadoes.
Severe thunderstorm outbreak
A severe thunderstorm outbreak, also called a severe weather outbreak or simply a severe outbreak, is an event in which a weather system or combination of weather systems produces a multitude of severe thunderstorms in a region over a continuous span of time.
Freezing rain
Freezing rain is the name given to rain that falls when surface temperatures are below freezing.
Extreme weather
Extreme weather includes unexpectable, unusual, unpredictable severe or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past.
Radius of maximum wind
The radius of maximum wind (RMW) is the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds.
Rainband
A rainband is a cloud and precipitation structure associated with an area of rainfall which is significantly elongated.
Air-mass thunderstorm
An air-mass thunderstorm, also called an "ordinary", "single cell", or "garden variety" thunderstorm, is a thunderstorm that is generally weak and usually not severe.
Central dense overcast
The central dense overcast, or CDO, of a tropical cyclone or strong subtropical cyclone is the large central area of thunderstorms surrounding its circulation center, caused by the formation of its eyewall.