Gallery of Weather Phenomena

The goal of this page is to describe phenomena in terms that hopefully most people will understand, and more importantly, describe the abilities and limitations in forecasting these phenomena, so the public can best use the information and forecasts that we meteorologists provide. I have divided the phenomena into Thunderstorm-Related Phenomena , Winter Weather Phenomena , Tropical Systems and Non-Precipitation Phenomena.

Thunderstorm-Related Phenomena - Characteristics of thunderstorms can change from season to season, but their effects are always the same. Each phenomenon will be loosely classified into typical cold season and warm season characteristics.

• Warm season - loosely defined as April through September
• Storm tops generally higher than during the cool season, allowing for a deeper moist layer and more available moisture to be converted into rainfall
• Wind flow through a deep layer generally weaker than during the cool season due to northward displacement of the polar jet stream during the warm season
• Weak wind flow can sometimes result in nearly stationary thunderstorms, resulting in persistent heavy rains over a given location, and consequent flash flooding
• Frequency of thunder and lightning is not an effective indicator of severity of a thunderstorm, in terms of potential heavy or flooding rains. Some thunderstorms may have little if any thunder and lightning, yet still produce flooding rains.
• Cold season - loosely defined as October through March

Winter Weather Phenomena - In my opinion, one of the most neglected fields of research, and also the most poorly predicted phenomena. Frozen and freezing precipitation can occur as a result of many different atmospheric processes. Many "surprise" events are often more forecastable than some people think and the following information will hopefully illustrate my point.

Tropical Systems - More tropical systems affect the eastern U.S. than one would imagine. After a hurricane, tropical storm or tropical depression makes a land fall, the remnants can often track for hundreds of additional miles, producing devastating flooding and occasionally tornadoes.

Non-Precipitation Phenomena - Includes fog, frost and other phenomena.

• Global Warming



• Global Cooling