Most of you probably have already heard that there is the possibility of some severe storms next week along with the rain.  But, do you really know what a severe thunderstorm is?

The Latest:  Rain next week

Tomorrow marks the beginning of next week.   So we want you to be prepared for what ever weather it has to through at you.  The rain next week will last for around three days as showers, so mainly on and off, but could create some localized areas of street and road flooding.  It’s just never a good idea to drive through flooded roadways…

The Latest:  We know it is going to rain next week, but what about the thunderstorms?

As mentioned in the title of this post, we are going to talk about what exactly a severe thunderstorm is.

The severe  thunderstorms that will likely be prevalent in the Northeast next week will really only contain mostly small hail, but in a large outbreak, what do severe storms contain or do?

We could just tell you the exact definitions from our ‘Terms to Know’ page, but that might be on the more boring side.  So instead we will just talk about what a severe storm is and what one can do.  First of all, in the definition it mentions a threshold for wind (58 mph),  how much damage can 58 mph do though.  If there were some small beach-like chairs outside, they would be flipped around, and some small tents would collapse.  That was just the wind side of the storm.  Most severe thunderstorms are classified as severe due to the hail that they carry.  If you go to  our ‘Terms to Know’ page you will find the definitions of, for example, measurements of golf ball sized hail.  Hail can cause a lot of damage to cars especially.  Hail can burst open windshields and create indents in the rest of the vehicle.  Then comes the lightning…

Most people do not think necessarily of lightning when they hear the words severe storm, even though lighting is one of nature’s deadliest forces.  The reason for that is  because in an open area, lightning wants to strike the tallest and/or the most metallic substance that is relatively high up compared to the terrain around it.  So if someone is wearing a watch in a severe thunderstorm in an open plain  without any trees for a while, guess what the lightning is most likely to strike…

Now, if you really want to see a shorter way of defining a severe thunderstorm, go in down to  our ‘Terms to Know’ page to see what the NWS classifies as a severe thunderstorm.

So whenever there is a severe thunderstorm watch or warning, take it seriously to stay safe!