⛈️ How Weather Works
Weather is driven by the sun’s energy heating the atmosphere unevenly. Warm air rises and cool air rushes in to replace it — this movement creates wind. Water evaporates from oceans, rises, cools and forms clouds. When clouds hold too much water, it falls as rain, snow or hail. Extreme weather happens when these processes become unusually powerful — creating storms that can reshape landscapes and affect millions of people.
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Tornadoes
- Wind speeds can reach over 480 km/h — faster than a Formula 1 car
- The USA gets about 1,000 tornadoes per year — more than anywhere else
- Most tornadoes last less than 10 minutes
- The widest tornado ever recorded was 4 km across
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Hurricanes & Typhoons
- Hurricanes are given human names to help track them
- Wind speeds must reach 119 km/h for a storm to be classified as a hurricane
- A hurricane can be as wide as 800–1,000 km
- The calm centre of a hurricane is called the eye — it can be cloudless
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Lightning
- Lightning reaches temperatures of 30,000°C — five times hotter than the sun’s surface
- The Earth is struck by lightning about 8 million times per day
- A single lightning bolt is about 2.5 cm wide but can be 8 km long
- Thunder is the sound of air expanding rapidly when superheated by lightning
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Snow & Ice
- No two snowflakes are identical — each has a unique six-sided crystal structure
- The heaviest snowfall ever recorded: 193 cm in one day in California, 1911
- A blizzard requires winds of at least 56 km/h with heavy snow
- Ice storms can coat trees and power lines with several centimetres of ice
☁️
Clouds
- A single cumulus cloud can weigh over 500 tonnes
- There are 10 main types of cloud, each forming at different altitudes
- Cumulonimbus storm clouds can tower up to 18 km into the sky
- Fog is simply a cloud at ground level
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Extreme Heat
- The hottest temperature ever recorded was 56.7°C in Death Valley, California
- Heatwaves kill more people annually than any other weather event
- Cities are usually several degrees hotter than surrounding countryside (urban heat island)
- Climate change is making heatwaves more frequent and more severe
✨ Amazing Weather Facts
⛈️ A hailstone that fell in South Dakota, USA in 2010 was the size of a volleyball — 20 cm across and weighing nearly 0.9 kg.
🌞 Death Valley, California holds the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth: 56.7°C in July 1913.
❄️ Snowflakes always have 6 sides because of the way water molecules bond together when they freeze into ice crystals.
☁️ A single large thunderstorm can contain as much energy as 10 nuclear bombs.
🌞 The UK experiences about 300,000 lightning strikes per year.
⛈️ After a tornado, objects can be found hundreds of kilometres away from where they started — carried by the violent wind.
🤔 Weather Quiz
Click each answer to check it instantly!
Question 1 of 6
What is the eye of a hurricane?
- The name given to the point where the hurricane first touches land
- The outer edge of the hurricane where rain starts
- The calm centre of the storm which can be almost cloudless
- The most dangerous part where winds are fastest
Question 2 of 6
How hot can lightning get?
- About 100,000°C — far hotter than anything on Earth
- About 6,000°C — the same temperature as the sun's surface
- About 1,000°C — similar to a very hot oven
- About 30,000°C — five times hotter than the sun's surface
Question 3 of 6
How many times is Earth struck by lightning each day?
- About 1 million
- About 10,000
- About 100,000
- About 8 million
Question 4 of 6
What makes each snowflake unique?
- Each snowflake forms around a different type of dust particle
- Snowflakes are actually not unique — most are very similar to each other
- Each snowflake has a unique six-sided crystal structure formed as it falls through different temperatures and humidity
- The water in each snowflake comes from a different cloud
Question 5 of 6
What minimum wind speed must a storm reach to be classified as a hurricane?
- About 200 km/h
- About 119 km/h
- About 90 km/h
- About 60 km/h
Question 6 of 6
What type of cloud can tower 18 kilometres into the sky?
- Cumulonimbus
- Stratus
- Cumulus
- Cirrus
📚 Key Words
hurricane
A massive tropical storm with sustained winds of 119 km/h or more. Called a typhoon in the Pacific Ocean.
tornado
A violently rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground.
eye
The calm centre of a hurricane, surrounded by the most intense winds and rainfall.
cumulus
White, fluffy clouds that form at low to medium altitudes. The tallest type, cumulonimbus, produces thunderstorms.
blizzard
A severe snowstorm with high winds of at least 56 km/h and reduced visibility.
meteorologist
A scientist who studies the atmosphere and weather patterns.
precipitation
Water falling from clouds in any form — rain, snow, sleet or hail.
climate
The typical weather patterns of a region over a long period of time, as opposed to day-to-day weather.
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