Severe Weather | NESDIS | National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service Official websites use .gov .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS lock ) or means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Severe Weather When Will Severe and Hazardous Weather Strike? Severe and hazardous weather can include conditions produced by thunderstorms, including damaging winds, tornadoes, large hail, flooding and flash flooding, and winter storms associated with freezing rain, sleet, snow and strong winds. NOAA satellites don't just help us monitor severe and hazardous weather, but also help us analyze weather patterns to predict when and where it will strike. Two waterspouts touching down near a house. Severe and Hazardous Weather Common Phenomena Thunderstorms Severe thunderstorms are capable of producing hail that is an inch or larger or wind gusts over 58 mph. See thunderstorms across the world Thunderstorms Convection Convection is the vertical transport of heat and moisture by updrafts and downdrafts in an unstable atmosphere. Here's what convection looks like Convection Hurricanes The term hurricane is used for Northern Hemisphere tropical cyclones with maximum sustained winds of 74 mph, located east of the International Dateline to the Greenwich Meridian. Visualize swirling hurricanes Hurricanes Tornadoes Tornadoes are narrow, swiftly rotating columns of air that extend from the base of a thunderstorm to the ground. About 1,200 tornadoes occur in the U.S. annually. See satellite imagery of tornadoes Tornadoes Floods Floods are an overflow of water onto land that is normally dry. Floods can happen during heavy rains, when ocean waves come on shore, when snow melts too fast, or when dams or levees break. See images of floods Floods Lightning Lightning is the buildup and discharge of electrical energy, caused by the attraction between positive and negative charges in the atmosphere. Gaze at lightning from space Lightning Hail Hail consists of pellets of frozen rain which fall in showers from cumulonimbus clouds. See severe storms that produced hail Hail Derechos A derecho is a widespread, long-lived wind storm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms directed in one direction along a relatively straight swath. Look at derechos racing across the U.S. Derechos More Articles on Severe Weather image Feature Story 5 Ways NOAA’s Satellites Support Emergency Managers and First Responders NOAA satellites help predict and detect early threats, track weather events as they happen, and map… April 20, 2026 image Earth from Orbit NOAA Satellites Monitor Massive Winter Storm NOAA satellites have been closely monitoring a massive winter storm that swept across the United… January 30, 2026 image Feature Story 2025: The View from NOAA Satellites It was a busy – and successful – year for NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service. We celebrated… December 22, 2025 View More Flood