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Severe Weather
Severe weather can range from isolated thunderstorms, hailstorms, heavy rain and damaging winds. The term severe weather is generally used to describe significant weather occurrences which develop during strong to severe thunderstorms.
Severe weather includes:
- Thunderstorms
- Lightning
- Hailstorms
- Heavy Rain
- Strong wind gusts
Thunderstorms
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, or a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its effect: thunder. It is usually accompanied by heavy rain and sometimes snow, hail, or no precipitation at all.
A severe thunderstorm is a term designating a thunderstorm that has reached a predetermined level of severity. Often, this level is determined by the storm being strong enough to inflict wind or hail damage.
Hail can cause serious damage, notably to automobiles, aircraft, skylights, glass-roofed structures, livestock, and most commonly, farmers' crops.
Wind Storm
Windstorm - a severe weather condition indicated by high winds and with little or no rain,
Squall - sudden onset of wind increase of at least 16 knots (30 km/h) or greater sustained for at least one minute.
Gale - An extratropical storm with sustained winds between 34-48 knots (39-55 mph or 63–90 km/h).
Classifying the amount of rain
When classified according to the rate of precipitation, rain can be divided into:
- Very light rain - when the precipitation rate is < 0.25 mm/hour
- Light rain - when the precipitation rate is between 0.25 mm/hour - 1.0 mm/hour
- Moderate rain - when the precipitation rate is between 1.0 mm/hour - 4.0 mm/hour
- Heavy rain - when the precipitation rate is between 4.0 mm/hour - 16.0 mm/hour
- Very heavy rain - when the precipitation rate is between 16.0 mm/hour - 50 mm/hour
- Extreme rain - when the precipitation rate is > 50.0 mm/hour - when the precipitation rate is < 0.25 mm/hour
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