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

Thunderstorm
Derecho
Multicellular thunderstorm
Pulse storm
Squall line
Storm cell (single-cell)
Supercells, rotating thunderstorms
Lightning

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

Flood

Floods
Flash flood
Coastal flooding
Tidal flooding
Storm surge

Oceans and bodies of water

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

Snow

Avalanche
Blizzard
Lake effect snow
Snownado
Snow devil
Polar vortex

Ice

Black ice
Glaze ice
Hailstorm
Ice shove
Ice storm
Megacryometeor

Rain

Acid rain
Blood rain
Cold drop (; 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 by persistent lack of, or much reduced, rainfall
Floods
Flash flood
Rainstorm
Red rain in Kerala (for related phenomena, see Blood rain)
Monsoon

Surface movement

Avalanche
Mass wasting and landslips
Earthquake
Landslide
Debris flows
Mudslide
Rockfall
Coastal erosion
Sinkhole

Temperature

Cold wave
Heat wave
Heat burst
Polar vortex

Volcano

Volcanic eruption
Volcanic lightning
Volcanic ash

Wind

Cyclones
Extratropical cyclone
European windstorms
Australian east coast low
"Medicane", Mediterranean tropical-like cyclones
Polar cyclone
Tropical cyclone, also called a hurricane, typhoon, or just "cyclone"
Subtropical cyclone
Australian east coast low
Explosive cyclogenesis or weather bomb
Dust storm
Haboob
Dust devil
Sandstorm
Hurricane
Katabatic winds
Bohemian wind
Bora
Piteraq
Gregale
Anabatic wind
Valley exit jet
Santa Ana winds
Williwaws
Chinook
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
Wind gust
Windstorm
Gust front

Other

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

Phenomena caused by severe thunderstorms

Derecho
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 (Upper-atmospheric lightning)
Thundersnow, Snowsquall
Tornado
Windstorm (gradient pressure induced)
Severe thunderstorm (hailstorm, downburst: microbursts and macrobursts)

Severe weather caused by humans

Air pollution