Knowra Extreme weather Extreme weather Extreme weather is weather that is unusually severe or rare for a particular place and time, including heat waves, floods, droughts, and intense storms.
Atmospheric circulation : Large-scale movement of air that redistributes heat, moisture, and momentum around Earth. Persistent circulation patterns can steer storms or lock regions into heat and drought.
Weather : The state of the atmosphere at a particular place and time, including temperature, wind, and precipitation. Extreme weather is an unusually severe or rare state of the atmosphere.
Weather forecasting : The use of observations and models to estimate future atmospheric conditions. Forecasts can provide advance notice of approaching extreme conditions.
Heat-related illness : Health conditions caused or worsened by excessive heat, ranging from heat exhaustion to heatstroke. Extreme heat can overwhelm the body's ability to regulate temperature.
Extreme event attribution : The analysis of how climate change alters the likelihood or intensity of a specific weather event. It separates the climate-change influence from natural variability in individual extremes.
Jet stream : A narrow band of fast-moving winds in the upper atmosphere, usually flowing from west to east. Its meanders can help weather systems stall over one region.
Climate : The long-term statistical pattern of weather in a region, commonly summarized over decades. Climate provides the baseline against which weather extremes are judged.
Numerical weather prediction : Computer simulation of atmospheric physics to predict the evolution of weather. Models help project storm tracks, rainfall, wind, and heat.
Flood : An overflow of water onto land that is normally dry. Floods are a major consequence of intense precipitation, storm surge, or rapid snowmelt.
Climate change : Long-term shifts in climate patterns, driven in recent decades mainly by human greenhouse-gas emissions. Warming changes the baseline and risks of several types of extreme weather.
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