Tornadoes
Tornadoes are violently rotating columns of air connected to thunderstorms and the ground, capable of intense winds, flying debris, and narrow but destructive damage paths.
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Earth Science Topics
Browse Qlopedia topics grouped under Earth Science.
121 topics, showing 49-72 on page 3 of 6.
Topics
Fog
Fog is a low cloud at the ground, made of tiny water droplets or ice crystals that can sharply reduce visibility and disrupt travel.
Clouds
Clouds are visible collections of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere, shaping weather, precipitation, sunlight, and climate.
Dew point
Dew point is the temperature air must be cooled to for water vapor to saturate and begin condensing, making it a practical measure of atmospheric moisture.
Atmospheric pressure
Atmospheric pressure is the force of air pressing on a surface, shaped by the weight, motion, temperature, and density of the atmosphere above us.
Ice storms
Ice storms happen when freezing rain coats roads, trees, power lines, and buildings with glaze ice, creating dangerous travel and outage hazards.
Snow squalls
Snow squalls are brief, intense bursts of heavy snow and gusty wind that can make visibility and road conditions collapse within minutes.
Microburst
A microburst is a compact, intense thunderstorm downdraft that hits the ground and spreads outward as damaging straight-line wind.
Hailstorms
Hailstorms form inside strong thunderstorms when updrafts lift water into freezing air, building ice stones that can damage crops, roofs, vehicles, and people.
Sudden stratospheric warming
Sudden stratospheric warming is a rapid wintertime warming high above the poles that can disrupt the polar vortex and sometimes affect weather weeks later.
Atmospheric blocking
Atmospheric blocking occurs when a large, slow-moving pressure pattern disrupts the usual west-to-east flow, causing persistent weather over several days or weeks.
Orographic lift
Orographic lift happens when air is forced upward by mountains or high terrain, cooling as it rises and often forming clouds, rain, or snow.
Blizzards
Blizzards are dangerous winter storms defined by strong winds and very low visibility in falling or blowing snow, not simply by how much snow falls.
Derecho
A derecho is a widespread, long-lived windstorm produced by fast-moving thunderstorms, known for long swaths of damaging straight-line winds.
Bomb cyclone
A bomb cyclone is a midlatitude storm that rapidly intensifies through bombogenesis, often bringing strong winds, heavy precipitation, coastal flooding, or blizzard conditions.
Heat dome
A heat dome is a persistent high-pressure pattern that traps and intensifies hot air near the surface, often producing dangerous multi-day heat waves.
Polar vortex
The polar vortex is a large circulation of cold, low-pressure air near the poles, strongest in winter and sometimes linked to outbreaks of Arctic air farther south.
El Nino-Southern Oscillation
The El Nino-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, is a recurring climate pattern in the tropical Pacific that shifts ocean temperatures, trade winds, rainfall, and weather risks around the world.
Heat index
The heat index combines air temperature and relative humidity to estimate how hot conditions feel to the human body in the shade.
Wet-bulb temperature
Wet-bulb temperature measures how much evaporation can cool air, making it a key way to understand humidity, heat stress, and limits on human cooling.
Lake-effect snow
Lake-effect snow forms when cold air moves over warmer open water, gathers moisture and heat, then drops narrow bands of heavy snow downwind.
Rain shadow
A rain shadow is a dry region on the downwind side of mountains, created when moist air loses much of its water on the windward slopes.
Trade winds
Trade winds are persistent easterly winds in the tropics that blow toward the equator, shaping ocean currents, rainfall zones, sailing routes, and tropical weather.
Jet stream
The jet stream is a fast, narrow band of winds high in the atmosphere that helps steer storms, shape temperature patterns, and influence flight routes.