35 Awe-Inspiring Weather Facts

By James Israelsen, Associate Writer

Published February 4, 2025

Vice-Admiral Robert Fitzroy, captain of the famous ship HMS Beagle (of Darwin's voyages), coined the word "forecast" in the 1850s._[4]
The landscape of a given area can affect the weather. For example, a flat island will have different weather than a nearby mountainous island._[4]
One of the first meteorologists, 19th-century Robert FitzRoy, became so depressed from all the complaints he received every time he made an incorrect forecast that he eventually killed himself._[4]
A heat wave is usually caused by a high-pressure system—circular winds that settle over a given area for an extended period of time._[4]
All weather phenomena are caused by a combination of heat, air, and water, which varies constantly due to the rotation of Earth around the sun._[4]
In Papa New Guinea, weather that is so humid it will turn to rainstorms as soon as the sun heats the air is called chay nat, meaning "rain sun."_[4]
Uniform geographical regions tend to have stable weather patterns._[4]
Air temperature on land can fluctuate within a few hours; air temperature over large bodies of water can take up to several weeks to change by a few degrees._[4]
A "front" is a boundary between two differing air masses (areas in the atmosphere where temperature and moisture are largely uniform). Sudden and drastic changes in the weather result when the front of one air mass pushes out the other._[4]
The weather phenomenon known as El Niño refers to ocean currents that store and transport heat from South America to Australia, and vice versa, causing large changes in their climates._[4]

The sky often turns a strange shade of greenish-grey during the formation of a cyclone

Tornadoes occur more frequently in the United States than anywhere else in the world. On average, there are more than 1,200 tornadoes a year in America._[6]
High, wispy cirrus clouds can predict the arrival of bad weather 12 to 24 hours in advance and can even indicate the direction from which a cold front is coming._[4]
The National Weather Service started keeping records about weather patterns and events across the United States in 1870._[3]
The hottest place in America is California's Death Valley, which reached a continent-high of 134 degrees Fahrenheit in 1913._[3]
Phoenix, Arizona, and Las Vegas, Nevada, are the United States' two hottest major cities._[3]
A waterspout is a tornado that forms over a body of water._[6]
A single snowflake can contain up to 200 ice crystals arranged on six sides around a single particle of dust in the air._[6]
Billions of snowflakes can fall in a single snowstorm._[6]
According to a 2018 report published by the World Economic Forum, severe weather poses a greater threat to the world's population than weapons of mass destruction._[1]
Hurricane Katrina (2005), considered to be one of the world's most devastating hurricanes, resulted in 10,000 deaths._[1]

Many are still suffering the effects of Hurrican Katrina today

In the past five decades, there has been a five-fold increase in the number of natural disasters occurring around the world._[1]
Thanks to advances in technology and disaster management, the number of deaths caused by natural disasters is three times less than it was fifty years ago._[1]
In 2021, 80% to 90% of all deaths caused by extreme weather conditions occurred in developing countries._[1]
A 1977 drought in Canada was the costliest weather event to occur in the history of the country._[1]
Eighty-nine percent of all weather-related deaths on the African continent in the past 50 years were the result of four different droughts._[1]
Extreme storms are the foremost weather-related cause of economic losses worldwide._[1]
In the past 50 years, extreme weather events have cost the United States over 3.6 trillion dollars._[1]

Freezing rain sheathes nature in a delicate shell of ice

"Extreme" weather is a weather event with a rare aspect to it, in terms of either magnitude, location, or longevity._[1]
There have been an average of six heat waves every year in the past decade in the United States._[1]
"Lake effect storms" are snowstorms caused by an excess of moisture over the Great Lakes during the winter._[1]
Although they both involve the formation of a cyclone, the difference between a tropical storm and a hurricane is that the average speed of surface winds in a hurricane is faster than in a tropical storm._[1]
One-third of weather-related deaths are caused by tropical cyclones._[1]
A "Nor'easter" is a cyclone that has cold air at its core and occurs in non-tropical areas._[1]
The record for the world's largest hailstone is held by South Dakota, where a piece of hail 7.99 inches wide and weighing 1.90 pounds fell in 2010._[5]
Although Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo—where there are literally thousands of bolts of lightning striking 300 nights of the year—has the record for most lightning on Earth, there is rarely thunder._[2]