See Severe weather terminology for a comprehensive article on this term and related weather terms. A NOAA national weather forecast This article describes severe weather terminology used by the U.S. National Weather Service. ...

A storm warning generally refers to an advisory issued by an official meteorological department to warn citizens of approaching dangerous weather. A storm watch, on the other hand, typically refers to an advisory issued to indicate that conditions are favorable for the development of dangerous weather patterns, although the dangerous weather conditions themselves are not currently present. Satellite image of Hurricane Hugo with a polar low visible at the top of the image. ... Find more information on Weather by searching Wikipedias sister projects: Dictionary definitions from Wiktionary Textbooks from Wikibooks Quotations from Wikiquote Source texts from Wikisource Images and media from Commons News stories from Wikinews Weather is an all-encompassing term used to describe all of the many and varied phenomena...

In the United States, storm warnings and watches are issued by the National Weather Service, which is itself a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The NWS defines a watch as "the risk of a hazardous weather or hydrologic event [increasing] significantly, but its occurrence, location, and/or timing is still uncertain" and a warning as "hazardous weather or hydrologic event [that] is occurring, is imminent, or has a very high probability of occurring" [1]. Additionally, the NWS breaks down storm warnings and watches based upon the specific type of hazardous weather. These warnings and watches include, but are not limited to, hurricanes, tornadoes, and severe thunderstorms. The term "storm warning" is also used by the NWS to warn of high wind conditions not associated with tropical cyclones. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a scientific agency of the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere. ... Cyclone Catarina, a rare South Atlantic tropical cyclone viewed from the International Space Station on March 26, 2004. ... Union City, Oklahoma tornado (1973) A tornado is a violently deceptive spinning column of air in contact with both a cumiliform cloud base and the surface of the earth. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Wind is the roughly horizontal movement of air (as opposed to an air current) caused by uneven heating of the Earths surface. ...

The Met Office, the NOAA's counterpart in the United Kingdom, does not issue separate weather warnings and watches, but has an analogous system of flash warnings and advance warnings that serve the same general role of storm warnings and storm watches, respectively. Other official meteorological departments may use similar systems but use different terms. The new building on the edge of Exeter The Met Office (originally an abbreviation for Meteorological Office, but now the official name in itself), which has its headquarters at Exeter in Devon, is the UKs national weather service. ...

External links

• National Weather Service
• UK Met Office