Meaning and Types of Meteorological Hazards

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 What are Meteorological Hazards?


  • Meteorological Hazards are extreme events, caused due to anomalies and instability in weather.
  • Hazards like Cyclones, Tornadoes, Thunderstorms, Hailstorms, Cloudbursts all have enormous amount of energy to disrupt normal life and cause heavy damage to all life forms on Earth.
  • Meteorological Hazards are weather related phenomena which are produced by certain imbalance in the Earth's atmosphere.
  • These are violent and sudden events caused due to weather forming process and they cause serious damage to human lives and to the environment.
  • Strong winds, excessive rainfall, extreme heat and the weather is mainly responsible for occurrence of meteorological hazards.

Types of Meteorological Hazards:

1. Cyclones:
  • The cyclones are irregular wind movements involving closed air circulation around a low pressure centre. This closed air circulation is caused by atmospheric disturbances over Earth's Surface.
  • Cyclones are associated with destructive and violent disturbances, such as heavy squalls (shower) and torrential rainfall.
  • The cyclones also play an important role in the complex process of heat exchange between various latitudinal zones.
  • They affect the phenomenon of precipitation, especially in mid- lattitude regions, by lifting up the moist air from oceans and taking it into surrounding landmasses.
2. Tornadoes:

  • Tornadoes are funnel shaped storms which are usually small but they are violent and extremely disastrous.
  • They are very dark because of dominance dust, sand, debris and condensed moisture.
  • The air violently rotates in the upper portion of cumulonimbus clouds, attached to the ground by very narrow column of air.
  • The diameter varies from 90m on ground to 400m in the top portion.
  • Sometimes intense local heating of ground surface causes strong convection, inducing ideal conditions to form a tornado.
  • Tornadoes are most common in Southern and Eastern USA. The wind blows with hyper velocity which causes cracks in the buildings.
  • The deadliest part of Tornadoes are tornado missiles which causes great damage to buildings, human lives and trees.
3. Thunderstorms:

  • Thunderstorms are local storms distinguished by swift upward movement of air and huge amount of rainfall with thunder and lightning.
  • They are associated with dense and large cumulonimbus clouds having rapid and strong updraft of air.
  • A thunderstorm passes through young, old and mature stage.
  • The first stage is called as Cumulus stage. In this, warm air rises rapidly upwards and forms clouds.
  • The second stage or mature stage, has upward and downward movement of wind and occurrence of rainfall.
  • Whereas, the third stage or dissipating stage is characterized by downward movement of wind which is spread over the ground. 
4. Cloudburst:

  • Cloudburst is an extreme amount of precipitation in a short period of time, sometimes also accompanied by hail and caused due to a thunderstorm.
  • It is also capable of creating flood conditions as a cloudburst can suddenly dump large amounts of water on the surface.
  • Rainfall rates equal to or greater than 100 millimeters per hour, hence defined as cloudburst.
  • The results of a cloudburst can be disastrous.
  • Cloudburst are also responsible for flash floods. They usually occur when a cloud clashes with a solid body like a mountain, resulting in sudden condensation.
  • Due to cloudburst there is loss of flora leading to unwanted and rapid water supply.
  • Large volume of water can cause landslides resulting in damage of infrastructure.