page_title: Outline of meteorology
section_title: Meteorological phenomena
hierarchical_section_title: Outline of meteorology / Meteorological phenomena
caption_attribution_description: El Faro in Fuencaliente, La Palma, Canary Islands
context_page_description: The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the field of Meteorology.
  Meteorology
  The interdisciplinary, scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere with the primary focus being to understand, explain, and forecast weather events. Meteorology, is applied to and employed by a wide variety of diverse fields, including the military, energy production, transport, agriculture, and construction.
context_section_description: Atmospheric pressure – the pressure at any given point in the Earth's atmosphere
  Cloud – a visible mass of droplets or frozen crystals floating in the atmosphere above the surface of a planet
  Rain – precipitation in which separate drops of water fall to the Earth from clouds, a product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor
  Snow – precipitation in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds
  Freezing rain – precipitation that falls from a cloud as snow, melts completely on its way down, then passes through a layer of below-freezing air becoming supercooled, at which point it will freeze upon impact with any object encountered
  Sleet – term used in the United States and Canada for precipitation consisting of small, translucent ice balls, usually smaller than hailstones
  Tropical cyclone – a storm system with a low-pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and flooding rain
  Extratropical cyclone – a low-pressure weather system occurring in the middle latitudes of the Earth having neither tropical nor polar characteristics
  Weather front – a boundary separating two masses of air of different densities; the principal cause of meteorological phenomena
  Low pressure – a region where the atmospheric pressure is lower in relation to the surrounding area
  Storm – any disturbed state of the atmosphere and strongly implying severe weather
  Flooding – an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges the land; a deluge
  Nor'easter – a macro-scale storm along the East Coast of the United States, named for the winds that come from the northeast
  Wind – the flow of air or other gases that compose an atmosphere; caused by rising heated air and cooler air rushing in to occupy the vacated space.
  Temperature – a physical property that describes our common notions of hot and cold
  Invest (meteorology) – An area with the potential for tropical cyclone development
caption: Weather station in Fuencaliente de La Palma, La Palma, Canary Islands, March 28, 2008
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