| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Thunderstorm | Most common severe storm |
| T-Storm: Stage One | Strong updrafts push through heavy clouds, clouds build up, rain begins |
| T-Storm: Stage Two | Electric charges build up inside cloud, downdraft rubs against updraft causing sparks |
| T-Storm: Stage Three | Storm dies when the downdraft becomes stronger than the updraft |
| Thunder | The sound from superheated air expanding |
| Tornado | Violent whirling wind on the ground that forms a storm |
| T: Stage One | Dry, cold air mixes with warm, moist air |
| T: Stage Two | Strong convection current with an updraft |
| T: Stage Three | Air spins, pressure lowers, air spins faster |
| T: Stage Four | Funnel forms and touches ground |
| Water Spout | A tornado over water |
| Tornado Alley | Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas. and parts of the middle US; tornadoes form here because cold, dry air(from the northwest) and warm, moist air(from the Gulf of Mexico) mix there and it is relatively flat |
| Hurricane | Storms with low pressure centers that form over water |
| H: Stage One | Warm water and lots of evaporation, thunderstorms and low pressure |
| H: Stage Two | Winds spin counterclockwise causing small thunderstorms to be pulled together making larger ones |
| H: Stage Three | More evaporation causing lower pressure causing more evaporation, etc… |
| H: Stage Four | Low enough pressure causes faster winds that finally reach 75 mph, the beginning of a hurricane |
| H: Stage Five | Eye forms in the center of the storm |
| Tropical Depression | First sign of organized swirling |
| Tropical Storm | Winds reach 39 mph, remains a tropical storm until winds reach 74 mph then it becomes a hurricane |
| Storm Surge | Great rise of the ocean along the shore during a hurricane; can be 18 feet or more |
| Eye | The calm, quiet center of a hurricane; indicates 1/2 of the storm has passed |
