What is Storm: Definition and 73 Discussions

A storm is any disturbed state of an environment or in an astronomical body's atmosphere especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), heavy precipitation (snowstorm, rainstorm), heavy freezing rain (ice storm), strong winds (tropical cyclone, windstorm), or wind transporting some substance through the atmosphere as in a dust storm, blizzard, sandstorm, etc.
Storms have the potential to harm lives and property via storm surge, heavy rain or snow causing flooding or road impassibility, lightning, wildfires, and vertical wind shear. Systems with significant rainfall and duration help alleviate drought in places they move through. Heavy snowfall can allow special recreational activities to take place which would not be possible otherwise, such as skiing and snowmobiling.
The English word comes from Proto-Germanic *sturmaz meaning "noise, tumult".Storms are created when a center of low pressure develops with the system of high pressure surrounding it. This combination of opposing forces can create winds and result in the formation of storm clouds such as cumulonimbus. Small localized areas of low pressure can form from hot air rising off hot ground, resulting in smaller disturbances such as dust devils and whirlwinds.

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  1. dlgoff

    Storm Shelter Time: Preparing for Early Morning

    I may be going to my storm shelter sometime in the early morning:
  2. jedishrfu

    B An Ancient Solar Storm 9200 years ago is Cause for Concern

    https://www.livescience.com/ancient-solar-storm-solar-minimum
  3. S

    B Jupiter's pole storms - potential relation?

    I just watched this beautiful video about resonance frequencies and saw a pattern (the pattern at 1:25) , that reminded me of the pole storms on jupiter: Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/ASI/INAF/JIRA Could it be that some resonance frequencies on the pole of Jupiter are the reason why...
  4. dlgoff

    Construction My Storm Shelter: Summer Project w/ Dog Kennels & Lights

    This is what I've been working on this summer; a storm shelter. To keep the deer off, I put two 10' dog kennels around it. front: back: electrical service with motion detector flood lights:
  5. L

    Causing periodic storm events on a fictional planet

    Hi, I’m looking for ideas and guidance (maybe even formulas?) on making an on-planet situation match a hypothetical solar system. It’s for a fantasy role-playing, but the sentient species must necessarily care (and believably calculate) aspects about their solar system. (However, because it’s...
  6. K

    Engineering [University Hydrology]-Creating a storm hydrograph from a 60 minute UH

    Hi guys, not sure if anyone can help me but I'm having a bit of an issue with creating a storm hydrograph from a 60 min unit hydrograph that is in 5 minute intervals. I've lagged the unit hydrograph by 60 minutes each net rainfall block while multiplying the respective net rainfall to the...
  7. websterling

    B Meteor Storm Possible Thursday Night November 21-22

    This year's Alpha Monocerotid shower could produce a brief (15-45 minutes) burst of meteors at near storm levels. The burst is predicted to be centered around 4:50 UCT on November 22. Intense Meteor Outburst Expected from the Alpha Monocerotids Likely alpha Monocerotids (AMO#246) outburst on...
  8. G

    Exploring the Possibilities of a Martian Prison Break During a Solar Storm

    While The martian written by Andy Weir is a really hard stuff, but the effects of the storm at the beginning arent. But i wonder could a real solar/sandstorm actually help a prison break on Mars (from a remote penal colony)? Could it mask tracks in the dust? Could it create enough interference...
  9. m4r35n357

    I Twin Paradox: Travel at Fractional Speed & Instantly Return ##v##

    A traveler visits a location (or doesn't!) ##x## light years away at fractional [EDITED] speed ##v## and instantly returns at the same speed. After this her clock has progressed by ## \frac {2 x} {v} \sqrt {1 - v^2}## years. [EDITED] That really is all there is to be said. If the poster...
  10. ChemAir

    Morning images of Tropical Storm Michael

    Oh well. Not working right for me.
  11. Cheesycheese213

    Is being in something conductive during a storm good?

    Homework Statement If you were standing in a puddle. Would it be safer to spill sugar or salt in the puddle during an electrical storm? I know that salt water conducts electricity better than sugar water. 2. The attempt at a solution I understand that the salt puddle will conduct electricity...
  12. Robert House

    What is the impact of storms on submarines?

    Here is a scenario to further explain. Let's say I am traveling inside of a submarine. I travel within a depth of 100 to 600 feet deep or 4 to 19 atmospheres. How would I and my submarine be affected if there were a hurricane, tsunami, or hurricane above the ocean. Furthermore, does the...
  13. B

    I Hurricane Mathew: Force of Wind & Its Impact on People

    I was surprised at the number of people thinking they should "ride out the storm" when Hurricane Mathew moved up the coast. They are assuming that because they've been in a cat 1 or 2 that a 3 or 4 is nothing to worry about. I was trying to explain to someone that force is not linier with...
  14. EmilyBergendahl

    Electric Potential Difference during thunder storm

    Homework Statement During a thunder storm, movement of water molecules within clouds creates friction which causes the bottom of the clouds to become negatively charged. This means that the bottom of the cloud and the ground begin to act like parallel plates. Once the electric field between the...
  15. davenn

    Storm chasing fun and photos last weekend 31 Oct - 01 Nov

    Mid Saturday morning and the radar was telling the story, a large and long storm front line was stretching across SE Australia and was very lightning active. Said to my wife, Cindy, pack an overnite bag, we're going stormchasing and probably won't be home till Sunday nite. 300km or so of...
  16. morrobay

    Submarine Outfall For Storm Water Drainage Pipe

    Would a water pump for pressure be required for a submarine outfall for storm water drainage ? Diameter of pipe 2 meters Gradient 50 Horizontal distance from shore to outfall 200 meters depth about 16 meters, sine 50 Or would the pressure from gravity gradient be sufficient to overcome...
  17. Astronuc

    News Tropical Storm Erika (August 2015)

    http://news.yahoo.com/puerto-rico-braces-ts-erika-4-dead-dominica-040658141.html Maybe headed to the east coast of Florida. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2015/refresh/ERIKA+shtml/234401.shtml?
  18. P

    AA Batteries heating up during severe hail storm.

    Once during a severe hail storm (it lasted a few minutes and looked like it had snowed everywhere), my friend starting jumping around as if something was burning him, and he pulled 2 AA batteries out of his pocket and threw them outside. They were really hot and quickly melted a hole in the...
  19. davenn

    A big storm over Sydney region

    Hi all has a particularly nasty storm over the Sydney city area last nite trees down, building damaged, this morning still many homes without power a couple of lightning shots from home ... cheers Dave
  20. davenn

    Is Another Major Storm Heading Our Way?

    Another big storm heading towards home yesterday this tiny 800x600 size doesn't do it justice Dave
  21. davenn

    Picture of a major storm approaching home

    hi guys and gals been a wild Monday and Tuesday here in the Sydney, Australia region 2 evenings of wild weather first on Monday was a large thunderstorm storm that came in from the west bringing intense lightning, rain and hail Tuesday nite saw an intense low form over the region. This brought...
  22. F

    What would happen if a solar storm struck us on July 16th 2014

    If you guys still haven't heard by now, Earth narrowly missed a solar storm by a week on July 2012. Let's say the storm happened earlier on July 16th, in which we'd be directly hit. How different would our lives be? Where would we be today...
  23. Astronuc

    Catatumbo and frequent storm activity

    A region of Venezuela has a high incidence of recurrent thunderstorm activity. It is apparently a unique set of conditions - a lake surrounded by mountains, where winds blow in from the ocean, and the warm moist air combined with moisture from evaporation from the lake interacts with cooler...
  24. D

    Insulating box in a lightning storm

    This question is a variation on another question I asked recently. Suppose you were in a box made from a perfectly insulating material, and a thunderstorm was raging all around you. Would the box offer you any protection from lightning strikes? I think it would, because there would be no...
  25. TumblingDice

    Camelopardalis meteor shower (storm?) May 23/24

    A new meteor shower will light up the sky next week in the northern hemisphere. Comet 209P/Linear is forcast by some to produce 200+ events per hour hour overnight on May 23/24. Incoming will originate from Camelopardalis, a circumpolar constellation (so it will be "up all night!")...
  26. S

    Can You Get Electrocuted in the Shower During a Thunderstorm?

    I'm in a 10 year old apt building. I really want to take a shower, but it's a lightning show out there. Is it a myth that you can get electrocuted taking a shower during a thunder storm?
  27. S

    Eye of the storm at Saturn's north pole

    Hi! I'm really excited about recent APoD picture, which shows Cassini's photo of a gigantic storm on Saturn's north pole. They also have an animation! I can't wait for a colour picture and videos. Meanwhile, since I still didn't state the purpose of this thread, what are the inner vortex...
  28. S

    Geomagnetic Storms: Why Affect Northern Hemisphere?

    Hi all, I have a question regarding geomagnetic storms: --why always they affects the Northern Hemisphere? Or did i got this idea wrongly? Thanks
  29. Astronuc

    Saturn Storm (Dec 2010 to 2013)

    A large storm has been studied since December 2010. New research indicates the storm is stronger than first thought. Associated with the storm is a huge volume of ethylene, with an amount roughly 100 times through possible on Saturn. The source of the ethylene is unknown. NASA's...
  30. B

    Spherical Percent Uncertainty and Violent Storm Question

    Q1: What is the percent uncertainty in the volume of a spherical beach ball whose radius is r = 3.85 plus or minus 0.06 m? I found the volume of the original sphere, as well as one with a radius of 3.91. I then subtracted the volumes to find the difference between the two, divided that by the...
  31. wolram

    Getting my foot down a storm drain cover

    So i was walking along carefree as you like when i came to a sudden stop, i noted that my right foot had wedged in a storm drain cover, no matter how i tried i could not get it free, i decided the only option was to walk 3/4 mile to the industrial estate with the cover attached to my right foot...
  32. B

    Max distance Between storm water inlets

    A suburban street receives storm water runoff at rate of 2.0 L/m-s (on each side). The street has a slope of .8 percent and a cross slope of 2 percent; n = .013. If the street is 10 m wide and can be totally covered by water (depth = 0 at the midpoint), what is the max distance between inlets...
  33. T

    Wind load needed to topple a storm shelter

    I am planning on building an above ground storm shelter that will be 16' x 16' by 8'. The footers will be 24" W by 12" D with 4-#4 rebar. Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs) will be used for the walls then a 5" floor slab. Concrete space of the ICFs is 6.5" or 8" or 10" defending on someones...
  34. J

    How would the intense light from a massive thunderous lightning storm

    How would the intense light from a massive thunderous lightning storm compare against regular daily sunshine in terms of the electrical current generated from a solar panel array? Just curious.
  35. R

    Calculating max load of storm shelter

    Easy question Have a 5ft x 5ft x 5ft structure made from 3/8 carbon steel AISI 1018 I think What is the max load this thing can take? What's the formula? Stress=F/A F=Stress*A? Do I use the Modulus of Rigidity? Elasticity? Where can I find these values? thanks
  36. J

    Senior Project Brain Storm Question

    Good day Physic Forum: I am a third year Electrical Engineering student at the University of Technology, Jamaica, where I specialize in Instrumentation and Control System. I have being in the process of brain storming ideas for my senior project from early as March of this year and up to this...
  37. Evo

    Did a Recent Dust Storm in Arizona Cause Disruptions for Airline Flights?

    Did this affect any of our members? http://www.weather.com/outlook/videos/time-lapse-amazing-phoenix-dust-storm-21209
  38. DaveC426913

    Unplugging and Embracing the Storm Outside

    Maybe it's time I unplugged my laptop and went inside... [edit] Ooh. Here comes the lightning. And the wind. Shoulda knowd better than to light up a Churchill Wide. I'll be out here all night...
  39. Dembadon

    Recent Winter Storm: Pictures of Lake Tahoe Area

    Here are a few pictures showing what the most recent storm did to the western area of Lake Tahoe: Below is a picture of the county-maintained road leading to my father's house. The next two are of the private road on which he lives. This is a picture of the front of his house. I grew-up...
  40. S

    What are some recommended espionage games set in a snowy environment?

    Does anyone have a recommendation for an espionage type of game where you are in a snow storm? Games sort of like Metal Gear Solid but with snow? Or possibly like Rainbow Six.
  41. N

    What Are We Doing About The Next Big Geomagnetic Storm?

    Yo. As many of you know, the solar sunspot cycle is scheduled to peak again around 2012-2013. With it will come geomagnetic storms that will once again stress our electrical infrastructure. I was wondering: what sort of strategies do we have to mitigate against this threat? Do we just...
  42. C

    A perfect storm in a cup of salt water?

    Hi all: I have been puzzled by a very simple experiment I did lately. I found there exists a temperature gradient in a cup of saturated salt water--the bottom is about 0.5 Celsius warmer than the top. That is after the solution has been left intact for more than 100 hours. There is no such...
  43. J

    Measuring solar storm intensity

    I just discovered about solar storm named "Carrington Event"; I'd like to know how such a solar storm could affect my PC today. I found some publications: http://www.bu.edu/csp/EMMREM/papers/carrington.pdf...
  44. K

    Can a Sun Storm Leave You Stranded Without Internet?

    I would kill myself if I didn't have access to Internet.
  45. J

    Counting Seconds to Estimate Storm Distance

    We got some cool weather today along with some scattered showers. My wife was sitting there in deep concentration so I asked her what she was thinking. She said she was counting the seconds between the lighting flash and the thunder. She said that the light gets here much faster than the sound...
  46. T

    Magnetic Field Under a Thunder Storm

    Hello, I've been trying to figure out the shape of the magnetic field that would accompany the movement of electrons in the ground moving towards the center of the thunderstorm. In a perfect world where the electron distribution is even in the ground and where the Earth consists of like...
  47. R

    Relative Motion of a plane in a storm

    Homework Statement The navigator of an airplane plans a flight from one airport to another 1200km away, in a direction 30 degrees east of north. The weather office informs him of a prevailing wind from the west, of 80km/h. The pilot wants to maintain an air speed of 300km/h. What heading...
  48. sylas

    Massive dust storm in Australia

    I woke up this morning and the light was freaky! Everything seemed orange. Outside, the sky is pale orange, like fog but the wrong color. Trees a few houses across are fading into the orange ... we've got a dust storm. I live in Newcastle, a bit north of Sydney. This storm came up last night...
  49. V

    Solving a Lightning Storm Homework Problem

    Homework Statement A certain storm cloud has a potential of 1.50 x 10^8 V relative to a tree. If, during a lightning storm, 50.0 C of charge is transferred through this potential difference and 1.00% of the energy is absorbed by the tree, how much sap in the tree can be boiled away? Model...
  50. B

    Storm water managment calcs

    I need some help dealing with storm water. I'm trying to get a site plan approved and the township engineer wants to see "calculations in the form of a storm water management brief to indicate how post development floes will be managed such that they do not exceed pre development flows for a...
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