We often talk of severe weather. What is severe weather?
There are many forms of hazardous, or severe weather. Nationally, warnings for heavy snow, freezing rain, high winds, flash flooding, river flooding, thunderstorms, tornadoes, tropical storms, and hurricanes and others can be issued. In a broad sense, these are all defined as severe weather, as any of them can and do pose a threat to life and property. With respect to thunderstorms, a severe thunderstorm has winds in excess of 58 mph, hail greater than 3/4 inch in diameter and/ or tornadoes. Although lightning can be deadly it is not a criterion for what is defined as a severe thunderstorm, since any ordinary thunderstorm can produce a lot of lightning. Also, excessive rainfall may lead to flash flooding, but heavy rain is not a criterion for a severe thunderstorm.