A2 Geography Climatic Hazards glossary Hurricane Tropical cyclone Eye Eye wall A severe tropical cyclone, originating in the

e equatorial regions of the Atlantic Ocean or Caribbean Sea or eastern regions of the Pacific Ocean, with winds of over 118 km per hour. There are 5 categories of hurricane A tropical cyclone is characterized by a low-pressure centre and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain. Winds of 64 118 km per hour The eye is a region of mostly calm weather found at the center of strong tropical cyclones. The eye of a storm is a roughly circular area and typically 3065 km (2040 miles) in diameter The eyewall, a ring of towering thunderstorms where the most severe weather of a cyclone occurs. The cyclone's lowest barometric pressure occurs in the eye, and can be as much as 15% lower than the atmospheric pressure outside the storm. The Coriolis effect is a force which acts upon any moving body (an object or an parcel of air) in an independently rotating system, A storm surge is an offshore rise of water associated with a low pressure weather system, typically tropical cyclones. Storm surges are caused primarily by high winds pushing on the ocean's surface A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. The Fujita scale rates tornadoes by damage caused A supercell is a thunderstorm that is characterised by the presence of a mesocyclone: a deep, persistently rotating updraft. For this reason, these storms are sometimes referred to as rotating thunderstorms Latent Heat is the energy required to change a substance to a higher state of matter (solid > liquid > gas) or consequently, ice, liquid water and water vapour. This same energy is released from the substance when the change of state is reversed (gas > liquid > solid). A spiral motion of fluid within a limited area, especially a whirling mass of water or air that sucks everything near it toward its centre Region in the USA where most tornadoes occur An anticyclone is a region of high atmospheric pressure relative to the surrounding air, generally thousands of kilometres in diameter and also known as a high or high-pressure system. Winds, generally light, circulate around the high pressure centre in a clockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere and anticlockwise in the Southern Hemisphere Depressions are areas of low atmospheric pressure which produce cloudy, rainy and windy weather. These low-pressure systems often begin in the Atlantic, moving eastwards towards the UK. They are responsible for the UK's changeable weather. an abnormal increase in temperature with height in the troposphere Any form of water, such as rain, snow, sleet, or hail, that falls to the earth's surface Radiation fog is formed by the cooling of land after sunset by thermal radiation in calm conditions with clear sky. In winter, in north-west Europe, fog, or poor visibility caused by broad,

Coriolis effect Storm surge Tornado Supercell Latent heat

Vortex Tornado alley High pressure systems anticyclones Low pressure systems depressions Temperature inversion Precipitation Radiation fog Anticyclonic

gloom Stable Unstable Drought Blizzard

Heatwave Thunderstorm

El Nino Smog Global warming Global dimming Dry deposition Wet deposition

persistent sheets of strato-cumulus cloud at the base of an inversion trapping polluted air below. Where air, once forced up, tends to sink down again Where air, once forced up, tends to keep on rising A prolonged period of abnormally low precipitation; a shortage of water resulting from this. A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong winds and low temperature. The difference between blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have sustained winds or frequent gusts that are greater than or equal to 56 km/h (35 mph) A heat wave is a prolonged period of excessively hot weather. Thunderstorms are local storms accompanied by lightning and thunder and a variety of weather phenomena, such as heavy rain, hail or - in winter snow, high winds and sudden temperature changes. Thunderstorms originate when intense heating causes a parcel of moist air to rise from the earth's surface into upper levels of the atmosphere, a process called convection. Thunderstorms are therefore also known as convective storms. A warming of the surface water of the eastern and central Pacific Ocean, occurring every 4 to 12 years and causing unusual global weather patterns A form of air pollution produced by the photochemical reaction of sunlight with hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides that have been released into the atmosphere, especially by automotive emissions. An increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere, especially a sustained increase great enough to cause changes in the global climate. The present warming is generally attributed to an increase in the greenhouse effect Global dimming is the gradual reduction in the amount of global direct irradiance at the Earth's surface. Global dimming has interfered with the hydrological cycle by reducing evaporation and may have reduced rainfall in some areas. Global dimming also creates a cooling effect The accumulation of acidic particles that settle out of the atmosphere or of acidic gases that are absorbed by plant tissues or other surfaces is known as dry deposition. The accumulation of acids that fall to the Earth dissolved in water is known as wet deposition. Wet deposition includes all forms of acid precipitation such as acid rain, snow, and fog

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