AOI - (Area of Interest or Invest). Area of storminess, or any area in which the weather is in a state of cloudiness, precipitation or wind. This term is used, generally during the hurricane season.

Beach Erosion - The carrying away of beach materials by wave action, currents, tides, or wind.

Bermuda High - It’s a weather system that often dominates the eastern United States during the summer. A semi-permanent subtropical high-pressure system over the North Atlantic Ocean brings in warm and humid air for many days or weeks at a time. It gets its name because it is sometimes centered near Bermuda. It contributes to U.S. heatwaves when it extends west into the Gulf of Mexico and across the Deep South.

Coastal Flooding - It’s when winds and/or tides cause a rise in the sea level that floods coastal areas.

Coastal Flood Watch - The possibility exists for the inundation of land areas along the coast within the next 12 to 36 hours.

Coastal Flood Warning - Land areas along the coast are expected to become, or have become, inundated by sea water above the typical tide action.

Cyclone - A low pressure system. It is a term variously applied to tornadoes, waterspouts, dust storms, hurricanes and even to any strong wind.

Dense Fog - Its fog that reduces horizontal visibility to 1/4 mile or less. Dense fog usually creates traveling problems and delays.

Dense Fog Advisory - It’s issued when dense fog covers a widespread area and reduces visibility to ¼ of a mile or less.

Disturbance - A low pressure system, a tropical area of storminess, or any area in which the weather is in a state of cloudiness, precipitation or wind.

Downburst - A strong downward rush of air, which produces a blast of damaging winds on or close to the surface.

Drought - A period when a region has a lack of rainfall. Droughts can affect a fairly small area for a season or an entire continent for years. Too little rainfall can cause shortages in the water supply, destroy crops, and cause widespread hunger. Droughts also dry up soil, which then gets picked up by the wind and causes dust storms.

El Niño - The unusual warming of the surface waters of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. It causes changes in wind patterns that have major effects on weather all across the globe.

Excessive Heat Watch - It’s issued when the following conditions occur within 12-36 hours: a heat index of at least 105 degrees for more than 3 hours per day for 2 consecutive days or a heat index more than 115 degrees for any period of time.

Excessive Heat Warning - It’s issued within 12 hours of the onset of the heat conditions listed in the excessive heat watch.

Flood - It results from days of heavy rain and/or melting snows, when rivers rise and go over their banks.

Flash Flood - Sudden flooding that occurs when floodwaters rise swiftly with no warning within several hours of an intense rain. They often occur after intense rainfall from slow moving thunderstorms. In narrow canyons and valleys, floodwaters flow faster than on flatter ground and can be quite destructive.

Flash Flood Warning - It’s issued to alert the public, emergency management, and other cooperating agencies that flash flooding is in progress or is likely to happen.

Flood Watch - Flooding is possible within the watch area. Sometimes this is called a Flash Flood Watch or an Urban and Small Stream Advisory to indicate the possibility of rapidly rising water and flooding or high water on streets, underpasses and around storm drains.

Flood Warning - Flooding has been reported or is imminent. Take the necessary precaution if you are in a flood prone area.

Fujita Scale - The scale that measures the strength of tornadoes based upon wind speed.

Funnel Cloud - A tornado that doesn’t reach the ground. It has a rotating cone-shaped column of air extending downward from the base of a cumulonimbus or thunderstorm cloud, but whose circulation does not make contact with the ground.

Gulf - A large area of a sea or ocean partially enclosed by land, especially a long landlocked portion of sea opening through a strait.    

Gulf Stream - A warm swift current in the Atlantic Ocean that flows from the Gulf of Mexico along the eastern coast of the United States and then northeast toward Europe.

Hail - A mixture of liquid and frozen precipitation. Hailstones are composed of layers of ice and can become quite large when strong gusts of upward-moving air keep them inside the cloud. As they move around inside the cloud they collide with raindrops, adding layers and growing before they fall to earth.

Heat Index - It’s the ‘feel like’ temperature on a hot day. The heat index is a number that expresses the warming effect of humidity at different temperatures. Only air temperature and relative humidity are used in the calculation of heat index.

Heat Advisory - It’s issued within 12 hours of the onset of the following conditions: a heat index of at least 105 degrees but less than 115 degrees for less than 3 hours per day or if nighttime lows remain above 80 degrees for 2 consecutive days.

High Wind Watch - It’s issued when conditions are favorable of the development of high winds.

High Wind Warning - It’s issued when winds of 40 mph or greater are occurring or expected to occur for at least one hour. It also occurs if winds of 58 mph or greater are expected.

Hurricane - They are intense storms with swirling winds up to 150 miles per hour. Usually around 300 miles across, hurricanes are 1,000-5,000 times larger than tornadoes. Hurricanes are known by different names around the world. In Japan they are Typhoons, while Australians call them Willy-Willys.

Hurricane Season - A six-month period from June 1 to Nov. 30, when conditions are favorable for hurricane development.

Invest - (or Area of Interest). Area of storminess, or any area in which the weather is in a state of cloudiness, precipitation or wind. This term is used, generally during the tropical season.

Land Breeze - An nighttime land breeze that blows offshore, from the land to the sea. It is caused by the temperature difference when the surface of the land is cooler than the adjacent body of water. Predominate during the night, it reaches its maximum early evening to midnight. It blows in the opposite direction of a sea breeze.

La Niña - A widespread cooling of the surface waters of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. It’s the opposite of El Niño.

Latitude - The position of the Earth’s surface north or south of the equator. Hortizontal mapping lines.    

Leeward Side - The side of an object that is facing away from the direction that the wind is blowing.

Lightning - An enormous and very hot spark of electricity produced by thunderstorms. The lightning bolt itself can heat the air through which it travels to 54,000° F.

Longitude - The position of the Earth’s surface east or west of the Greenwich meridian. Vertical mapping lines.     

Mircoburst - A small downdraft of air with an outflow diameter of less than 2.5 miles with the peak winds lasting from 2 to 5 minutes.
This can effect a planes performance.

Muggy - The description of warm and humid air.

National Hurricane Center - They issue watches, warnings, forecasts, and analyses of hazardous tropical weather.

National Weather Service - The federal agency that provides weather, hydrologic, and climate forecasts and warnings for the United States.

Saffir-Simpson Scale - A hurricane intensity scale that relates hurricane damage to wind speeds and central air pressures.

Sea Breeze - An daytime coastal breeze that blows onshore, from the sea to the land. It is caused by the temperature difference when the surface of the land is warmer than the adjacent body of water. Predominate during the day, it reaches its maximum early to mid afternoon. It blows in the opposite direction of a land breeze.

Straight-Line Winds - Very strong winds that can produce damage, demonstrating a lack of a rotational damage pattern. These happen a lot.
They can cause a lot of tree and structure damage. The damage can look like tornado damage, but straight-line winds are not associated with rotation.

Severe Thunderstorm - A thunderstorm with winds of 58 mph or greater and/or with hail ¾ inch in diameter or larger.

Severe Thunderstorm Watch - It’s issued when conditions are favorable for the development of severe thunderstorms.

Severe Thunderstorm Warning - It’s issued to warn the public, emergency management, and other cooperating agencies when a severe thunderstorm is forecast to occur or is occurring. The warning will include where the storm was occurring, its direction of movement and the primary threat from the storm.

Small Craft Advisory - A small craft advisory is a type of warning issued by the National Weather Service, most frequently in coastal areas. It is issued when winds have reached, or are expected to reach within 12 hours, a speed marginally less than that which is considered gale force, usually 25-38 mph.

Squall Line - A line of thunderstorms sometimes several hundred miles long that can produce strong thunderstorms and sometimes severe weather.

Tide - The regular rise and fall of the Earth's oceans caused by the actions of the moon's and sun's gravitation acting on the rotating Earth.

Tidal Range - The difference in water level between high tide and low tide at a given place.

Tornado - It begins as a funnel cloud with spinning columns of air that drop down from a severe thunderstorm. When they reach the ground they become tornadoes. Tornadoes are between 300 and 2,000 feet wide and travel at speeds of 20 to 45 miles per hour. They usually only last a few minutes, but their spinning winds, up to 300 miles per hour, can lift houses into the air and rip trees from the ground.

Tornado Watch - It’s issued when conditions are favorable for the development of tornadoes.

Tornado Warning - It’s issued to warn the public, emergency management, and other cooperating agencies when a tornado is forecast to occur or is occurring. The warning will include where the storm was occurring and where it’s expected to travel.

Tropical Depression - It’s a low-pressure disturbance that forms over warm tropical ocean waters and produces winds of 38 m.p.h. or less.

Tropical Storm - It’s a low-pressure disturbance that forms over warm tropical ocean waters. In the United States, a tropical storm has winds between 39-73 m.p.h.

Waterspout - A tornado occurring over water.

Wind Advisory - An advisory from the National Weather Service when the winds are between 29-38 m.p.h. lasting more than one hour, or when wind gusts are between 44-57 m.p.h.

Windward Side - The side of an object that is facing into the direction that the wind is coming from.