1.
Al Asad Airbase
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Ayn al-Asad Airbase is an Iraqi Armed Forces and United States armed forces base located in the Al Anbar Governorate of western Iraq. It was the second largest US military airbase in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom, until January 2010, it was the home of the II Marine Expeditionary Force/Multi-National Force West. Due to numerous amenities aboard the base, service members referred to it as Camp Cupcake, the base is located in the Hīt District of the largely Sunni Al Anbar Governorate, about 100 miles west of Baghdad and 5 miles west of the village of Khan al Baghdadi. The airbase is divided by Wādī al Asadī, a wadi whose course passes through the oasis along the western edge and then continues eastward. This oasis is locally referred to as Abrahams Well, the ‘Ayn al Asad spring surfaces within the base and flows into the Wādī al Asadī. Geologically, the base resides in the Al-Ḥammād sector of the Syrian Desert, composed mostly of a rock, the base was originally named Qadisiyah Airbase, a reference to the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah. Qadisiyah AB was one of five new air bases built in Iraq as part of their Project Super-Base, the base was built sometime between 1981 and 1987 by a consortium of Yugoslavian companies under contract to the government of Iraq. Two Yugoslav government agencies led the project, the FDSP acted as the project manager and Aeroengineering acted as the project engineer. Known as Project 202-B and Project 1100, the involved in its construction included Granit. The US$280,000,000 project at Qadisiyah AB included accommodation for 5,000 personnel, the hardened aircraft shelters built here and throughout Iraq by the Yugoslavs were nicknamed Yugos. At the time they were considered state of the art but were rendered obsolete in 1991 after the development of the GBU-28 laser-guided bunker-buster bomb, prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the base housed three units of the Iraqi Air Force, which flew MiG-25s and MiG-21s. It was abandoned shortly after the start of the invasion and it was initially known as Objective Webster, and then eventually was renamed Al Asad Airbase, which means The Lion in Arabic. The base was secured during the Iraq War by the Australian Special Air Service Regiment on 16 April 2003 and was turned over to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in May 2003. The 3rd ACR was relieved by the Marines of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in March 2004, Al Asad became the largest U. S. base in western Iraq and the western equivalent of Baghdads Green Zone. Al Asad was a major hub, hosting hundreds of fuel. Huge shipments of fuel were commonly run along the dangerous routes coming out of Jordan and, despite insurgent attempts, a single convoy operation would sometimes last a couple days with trucks on the road for over 8 hours a day. The base is self-sufficient for producing drinking water, having both a reverse osmosis water purification plant and a bottling plant, most of the housing on base are cans – shipping containers converted to, or manufactured as, living areas. Some of the barracks still remain, however, and were used as well
2.
Iraq
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The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds, others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, around 95% of the countrys 36 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish, two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, the area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian and it was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires. Iraqs modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres, Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932, in 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Baath Party from 1968 until 2003, after an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Husseins Baath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The American presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country, the Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name, one dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for city, UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is rooted, well-watered. During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī for Lower Mesopotamia and ʿIrāq ʿajamī, for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran. The term historically included the south of the Hamrin Mountains. The term Sawad was also used in early Islamic times for the region of the plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In English, it is either /ɪˈrɑːk/ or /ɪˈræk/, the American Heritage Dictionary, the pronunciation /aɪˈræk/ is frequently heard in U. S. media. Since approximately 10,000 BC, Iraq was one of centres of a Caucasoid Neolithic culture where agriculture, the following Neolithic period is represented by rectangular houses. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gypsum, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations
3.
Namib
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The Namib is a coastal desert in southern Africa. The name Namib is of Nama origin and means vast place, the Namibs northernmost portion, which extends 450 kilometres from the Angola-Namibia border, is known as Moçâmedes Desert, while its southern portion approaches the neighboring Kalahari Desert. From the Atlantic coast eastward, the Namib gradually ascends in elevation, annual precipitation ranges from 2 millimetres in the most arid regions to 200 millimetres at the escarpment, making the Namib the only true desert in southern Africa. Having endured arid or semi-arid conditions for roughly 55–80 million years, the desert geology consists of sand seas near the coast, while gravel plains and scattered mountain outcrops occur further inland. The sand dunes, some of which are 300 metres high, fogs that originate offshore from the collision of the cold Benguela Current and warm air from the Hadley Cell create a fog belt that frequently envelops parts of the desert. Coastal regions can experience more than 180 days of fog a year. While this has proved a hazard to ships—more than a thousand wrecks litter the Skeleton Coast—it is a vital source of moisture for desert life. Owing to its antiquity, the Namib may be home to endemic species than any other desert in the world. Most of the wildlife is arthropods and other small animals that live on little water. Near the coast, the ocean water is rich in fishery resources and supports populations of brown fur seals and shorebirds. Further inland, the Namib-Naukluft National Park, the largest game park in Africa, supports populations of African Bush Elephants, Mountain Zebras, and other large mammals. Although the outer Namib is largely barren of vegetation, lichens and succulents are found in areas, while grasses, shrubs. A few types of trees are able to survive the extremely arid climate. The Namib Desert is one of the 500 distinct physiographic provinces of the South African Platform physiographic division and it occupies an area of around 80,950 km², stretching from the[Usiab River to the town of Lüderitz and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Namib Escarpment. It is about 1,000 miles long north to south. To the south, the Namib borders on the South African Karoo semi-desert, southern Namib comprises a vast dune sea with some of the tallest and most spectacular dunes of the world, ranging in color from pink to vivid orange. In the Sossusvlei area, several dunes exceed 300 meters in height, the complexity and regularity of dune patterns in its dune sea have attracted the attention of geologists for decades, but it remains poorly understood. Moving north from Sossusvlei, the sand gradually gives way to a desert that extends all the way from Sossusvlei to the Swakop river
4.
Nature
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Nature, in the broadest sense, is the natural, physical, or material world or universe. Nature can refer to the phenomena of the world. The study of nature is a part of science. Although humans are part of nature, human activity is understood as a separate category from other natural phenomena. The word nature is derived from the Latin word natura, or essential qualities, innate disposition, and in ancient times, literally meant birth. Natura is a Latin translation of the Greek word physis, which related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants, animals. This usage continued during the advent of scientific method in the last several centuries. Within the various uses of the word today, nature often refers to geology, for example, manufactured objects and human interaction generally are not considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, human nature or the whole of nature. Depending on the context, the term natural might also be distinguished from the unnatural or the supernatural. Earth is the planet known to support life, and its natural features are the subject of many fields of scientific research. Within the solar system, it is third closest to the sun, it is the largest terrestrial planet and its most prominent climatic features are its two large polar regions, two relatively narrow temperate zones, and a wide equatorial tropical to subtropical region. Precipitation varies widely with location, from several metres of water per year to less than a millimetre,71 percent of the Earths surface is covered by salt-water oceans. The remainder consists of continents and islands, with most of the land in the Northern Hemisphere. Earth has evolved through geological and biological processes that have left traces of the original conditions, the outer surface is divided into several gradually migrating tectonic plates. The interior remains active, with a layer of plastic mantle. This iron core is composed of a solid phase. Convective motion in the core generates electric currents through dynamo action, the atmospheric conditions have been significantly altered from the original conditions by the presence of life-forms, which create an ecological balance that stabilizes the surface conditions. Geology is the science and study of the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth, the geology of an area evolves through time as rock units are deposited and inserted and deformational processes change their shapes and locations
5.
Weather
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Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the lowest level of the atmosphere, Weather refers to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate is the term for the averaging of atmospheric conditions over longer periods of time. When used without qualification, weather is understood to mean the weather of Earth. Weather is driven by air pressure, temperature and moisture differences between one place and another and these differences can occur due to the suns angle at any particular spot, which varies with latitude. The strong temperature contrast between polar and tropical air gives rise to the largest scale atmospheric circulations, the Hadley Cell, the Ferrel Cell, the Polar Cell, Weather systems in the mid-latitudes, such as extratropical cyclones, are caused by instabilities of the jet stream flow. Because the Earths axis is tilted relative to its orbital plane, on Earths surface, temperatures usually range ±40 °C annually. Over thousands of years, changes in Earths orbit can affect the amount and distribution of energy received by the Earth, thus influencing long-term climate. Surface temperature differences in turn cause pressure differences, higher altitudes are cooler than lower altitudes as most atmospheric heating is due to contact with the Earths surface while radiative losses to space are mostly constant. Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a future time and a given location. The Earths weather system is a system, as a result. Human attempts to control the weather have occurred throughout history, and there is evidence that human activities such as agriculture, studying how the weather works on other planets has been helpful in understanding how weather works on Earth. A famous landmark in the Solar System, Jupiters Great Red Spot, is a storm known to have existed for at least 300 years. However, weather is not limited to planetary bodies, a stars corona is constantly being lost to space, creating what is essentially a very thin atmosphere throughout the Solar System. The movement of mass ejected from the Sun is known as the solar wind, on Earth, the common weather phenomena include wind, cloud, rain, snow, fog and dust storms. Less common events include natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons, almost all familiar weather phenomena occur in the troposphere. Weather does occur in the stratosphere and can affect weather lower down in the troposphere, Weather occurs primarily due to air pressure, temperature and moisture differences between one place to another. These differences can occur due to the sun angle at any particular spot, in other words, the farther from the tropics one lies, the lower the sun angle is, which causes those locations to be cooler due the spread of the sunlight over a greater surface. The strong temperature contrast between polar and tropical air gives rise to the large scale atmospheric circulation cells and the jet stream, Weather systems in the mid-latitudes, such as extratropical cyclones, are caused by instabilities of the jet stream flow
6.
Season
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A season is a division of the year marked by changes in weather, ecology and hours of daylight. Seasons result from the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. During May, June, and July, the northern hemisphere is exposed to direct sunlight because the hemisphere faces the sun. The same is true of the hemisphere in November, December. It is the tilt of the Earth that causes the Sun to be higher in the sky during the months which increases the solar flux. However, due to lag, June, July, and August are the hottest months in the northern hemisphere and December, January. In temperate and subpolar regions, four calendar-based seasons are recognized, spring, summer, autumn or fall. Ecologists often use a model for temperate climate regions, prevernal, vernal, estival, serotinal, autumnal. Many tropical regions have two seasons, the rainy, wet, or monsoon season and the dry season, some have a third cool, mild, or harmattan season. Seasons often held special significance for agrarian societies, whose lives revolved around planting and harvest times, in some parts of the world, some other seasons capture the timing of important ecological events such as hurricane season, tornado season, and wildfire season. The most historically important of these are the three seasons—flood, growth, and low water—which were previously defined by the annual flooding of the Nile in Egypt. The seasons result from the Earths axis of rotation being tilted with respect to its orbital plane by an angle of approximately 23.5 degrees, regardless of the time of year, the northern and southern hemispheres always experience opposite seasons. This is because during summer or winter, one part of the planet is directly exposed to the rays of the Sun than the other. For approximately half of the year, the northern hemisphere tips toward the Sun, for the other half of the year, the same happens, but in the southern hemisphere instead of the northern, with the maximum around December 21. The two instants when the Sun is directly overhead at the Equator are the equinoxes. Also at that moment, both the North Pole and the South Pole of the Earth are just on the terminator, and hence day and night are equally divided between the northern and southern hemispheres. Around the March equinox, the northern hemisphere will be experiencing spring as the hours of daylight increase, the effect of axial tilt is observable as the change in day length and altitude of the Sun at noon during a year. Between this effect and the daylight hours, the axial tilt of the Earth accounts for most of the seasonal variation in climate in both hemispheres
7.
Winter
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Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates, between autumn and spring. Winter is caused by the axis of the Earth in that hemisphere being oriented away from the Sun, different cultures define different dates as the start of winter, and some use a definition based on weather. When it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere, in many regions, winter is associated with snow and freezing temperatures. The moment of winter solstice is when the elevation with respect to the North or South Pole is at its most negative value, meaning this day will have the shortest day. The English word winter comes from the Proto-Indo-European root wend, relating to water, the tilt of the Earths axis relative to its orbital plane plays a large role in the formation of weather. The Earth is tilted at an angle of 23. 44° to the plane of its orbit, when it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere faces the Sun more directly and thus experiences warmer temperatures than the Northern Hemisphere. Conversely, winter in the Southern Hemisphere occurs when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted more toward the Sun, from the perspective of an observer on the Earth, the winter Sun has a lower maximum altitude in the sky than the summer Sun. During winter in either hemisphere, the altitude of the Sun causes the sunlight to hit that hemisphere at an oblique angle. In regions experiencing winter, the amount of solar radiation is spread out over a larger area. This effect is compounded by the distance that the light must travel through the atmosphere. Compared with these effects, the changes in the distance of the earth from the sun are negligible, the manifestation of the meteorological winter in the northerly snow–prone parallels is highly variable depending on elevation, position versus marine winds and the amount of precipitation. A case in point is Canada, a country associated with tough winters. Winnipeg on the Great Plains at a distance from large bodies of water has a January high of −11.3 °C. In comparison, Vancouver on the coast with an influence from moderating Pacific winds has a January low of 1.4 °C with days well above freezing at 6.9 °C. Both areas are on the 49th parallel north and in the western half of the continent. Winter is often defined by meteorologists to be the three months with the lowest average temperatures. This corresponds to the months of December, January and February in the Northern Hemisphere, the coldest average temperatures of the season are typically experienced in January or February in the Northern Hemisphere and in June, July or August in the Southern Hemisphere. Blizzards often develop and cause many transportation delays, diamond dust, also known as ice needles or ice crystals, forms at temperatures approaching −40 °F due to air with slightly higher moisture from aloft mixing with colder, surface based air
8.
Spring (season)
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Spring is one of the four conventional temperate seasons, following winter and preceding summer. There are various definitions of spring, but local usage of the term varies according to local climate, cultures. When it is spring in the Northern Hemisphere, it will be autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, at the spring equinox, days are approximately 12 hours long with day length increasing as the season progresses. Spring and springtime refer to the season, and also to ideas of rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal, resurrection, subtropical and tropical areas have climates better described in terms of other seasons, e. g. dry or wet, monsoonal or cyclonic. Often, cultures have locally defined names for seasons which have little equivalence to the terms originating in Europe, Spring is the time when many plants begin to grow and flower. Meteorologists generally define four seasons in many areas, spring, summer, autumn. These are demarcated by the values of their average temperatures on a monthly basis, the three warmest months are by definition summer, the three coldest months are winter and the intervening gaps are spring and autumn. Spring, when defined in this manner, can start on different dates in different regions, in most Northern Hemisphere, temperate locations, spring months are March, April and May, although differences exist from country to country. Most Southern Hemisphere, temperate locations have opposing seasons with spring in September, October and November, in Australia and New Zealand, spring conventionally begins on 1 September and ends 30 November. In some cultures in the Northern Hemisphere, the astronomical Vernal equinox is taken to mark the first day of spring, in Persian culture the first day of spring is the first day of the first month which begins on 20 or 21 March. In other traditions, the equinox is taken as mid-spring, similarly, according to the Celtic tradition, which is based solely on daylight and the strength of the noon sun, spring begins in early February and continues until early May. In Ireland, spring traditionally starts on February 1, St Brigids Day, the beginning of spring is not always determined by fixed calendar dates. These indicators, along with the beginning of spring, vary according to the local climate, most ecologists divide the year into six seasons that have no fixed dates. In addition to spring, ecological reckoning identifies an earlier separate prevernal season between the hibernal and vernal seasons and this is a time when only the hardiest flowers like the crocus are in bloom, sometimes while there is still some snowcover on the ground. During early spring, the axis of the Earth is increasing its tilt relative to the Sun, the hemisphere begins to warm significantly, causing new plant growth to spring forth, giving the season its name. Any snow begins to melt, swelling streams with runoff and any frosts become less severe, in climates that have no snow, and rare frosts, air and ground temperatures increase more rapidly. Many flowering plants bloom at this time of year, in a succession, sometimes beginning when snow is still on the ground. In normally snowless areas, spring may begin as early as February, heralded by the blooming of deciduous magnolias, cherries, and quince, or August in the same way
9.
Summer
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Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, falling between spring and autumn. At the summer solstice, the days are longest and the nights are shortest, the date of the beginning of summer varies according to climate, tradition and culture. When it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere, a variable seasonal lag means that the meteorological center of the season, which is based on average temperature patterns, occurs several weeks after the time of maximal insolation. Under meteorological definitions, all seasons are set to start at the beginning of a calendar month. This meteorological definition of summer also aligns with the commonly viewed notion of summer as the season with the longest days of the year, the meteorological reckoning of seasons is used in Australia, Austria, Denmark, the former Soviet Union and Japan. It is also used by many in the United Kingdom, in Ireland, the summer months according to the national meteorological service, Met Éireann, are June, July and August. However, according to the Irish Calendar, summer begins on 1 May, school textbooks in Ireland follow the cultural norm of summer commencing on 1 May rather than the meteorological definition of 1 June. Reckoning by hours of daylight alone, summer solstice marks the midpoint, not the beginning, midsummer takes place over the shortest night of the year, which is the summer solstice, or on a nearby date that varies with tradition. Where a seasonal lag of half a season or more is common, by this method, in North America, summer is the period from the summer solstice to the autumn equinox. The similar Canadian tradition starts summer on Victoria Day one week prior and ends, as in the United States, on Labour Day. In Chinese astronomy, summer starts on or around 5 May, with the known as lìxià, i. e. establishment of summer. In Australia and New Zealand, summer begins on 1 December. Summer is traditionally associated with hot or warm weather, in the Mediterranean regions, it is also associated with dry weather, while in other places it is associated with rainy weather. The wet season is the period of vegetation growth within the savanna climate regime. Where the wet season is associated with a shift in the prevailing winds. In the northern Atlantic Ocean, a tropical cyclone season occurs from 1 June to 30 November. The statistical peak of the Atlantic hurricane season is 10 September, the Northeast Pacific Ocean has a broader period of activity, but in a similar time frame to the Atlantic. The Northwest Pacific sees tropical cyclones year-round, with a minimum in February and March, in the North Indian basin, storms are most common from April to December, with peaks in May and November
10.
Autumn
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Autumn, also known as fall in North American English, is one of the four temperate seasons. One of its features is the shedding of leaves from deciduous trees. Some cultures regard the autumnal equinox as mid-autumn, while others with a longer temperature lag treat it as the start of autumn. Meteorologists use a definition based on months, with autumn being September, October and November in the northern hemisphere, in North America, autumn is usually considered to start with the September equinox and end with the winter solstice. As daytime and nighttime temperatures decrease, trees shed their leaves, in traditional East Asian solar term, autumn starts on or around 8 August and ends on or about 7 November. In Ireland, the autumn months according to the meteorological service. In Australia and New Zealand, autumn officially begins on 1 March, the word autumn comes from the ancient Etruscan root autu- and has within it connotations of the passing of the year. It was borrowed by the neighbouring Romans, and became the Latin word autumnus, after the Roman era, the word continued to be used as the Old French word autompne or autumpne in Middle English, and was later normalized to the original Latin. In the Medieval period, there are examples of its use as early as the 12th century. Before the 16th century, harvest was the usually used to refer to the season. The alternative word fall for the season traces its origins to old Germanic languages, the exact derivation is unclear, with the Old English fiæll or feallan and the Old Norse fall all being possible candidates. However, these all have the meaning to fall from a height and are clearly derived either from a common root or from each other. The term came to denote the season in 16th century England, during the 17th century, English emigration to the British colonies in North America was at its peak, and the new settlers took the English language with them. While the term gradually became obsolete in Britain, it became the more common term in North America. The name backend, a common name for the season in Northern England, has today been largely replaced by the name autumn. Association with the transition from warm to cold weather, and its status as the season of the primary harvest, has dominated its themes. In Western cultures, personifications of autumn are usually pretty, well-fed females adorned with fruits, vegetables, many cultures feature autumnal harvest festivals, often the most important on their calendars. There are also the many North American Indian festivals tied to harvest of ripe foods gathered in the wild, the Chinese Mid-Autumn or Moon festival, and many others
11.
Storm
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A storm is any disturbed state of an environment or astronomical bodys atmosphere especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather. Heavy snowfall can allow special recreational activities to take place which would not be possible otherwise, the English word comes from Proto-Germanic *sturmaz meaning noise, tumult. Storms are created when a center of low pressure develops with a system of high pressure surrounding it and this combination of opposing forces can create winds and result in the formation of storm clouds, such as the cumulonimbus. Small localized areas of low pressure can form from hot air rising off hot ground, resulting in smaller disturbances such as dust devils, There are many varieties and names for storms, Ice storm — Ice storms are one of the most dangerous forms of winter storms. When surface temperatures are below freezing, but a layer of above-freezing air remains aloft, rain can fall into the freezing layer. In general,8 millimetres of accumulation is all that is required, especially in combination with breezy conditions, Ice storms also make unheated road surfaces too slick to drive upon. Ice storms can vary in range from hours to days and can cripple small towns. Blizzard — There are varying definitions for blizzards, both time and by location. In general, a blizzard is accompanied by winds, heavy snow. Snow storms, especially ones with a liquid equivalent and breezy conditions, can down tree limbs, cut off power. Ocean Storm — Storm conditions out at sea are defined as having sustained winds of 48 knots or greater, usually just referred to as a storm, these systems can sink vessels of all types and sizes. Firestorm — Firestorms are conflagrations which attain such intensity that they create and it is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires, forest fires, and wildfires. The Peshtigo Fire is one example of a firestorm, Firestorms can also be deliberate effects of targeted explosives such as occurred as a result of the aerial bombings of Dresden. Nuclear detonations generate firestorms if high winds are not present, dust devil — a small, localized updraft of rising air. Wind storm— A storm marked by high wind with little or no precipitation, windstorm damage often opens the door for massive amounts of water and debris to cause further damage to a structure. European windstorms and derechos are two type of windstorms, high wind is also the cause of sandstorms in dry climates. Squall — sudden onset of wind increase of at least 16 knots or greater sustained for at least one minute, gale — An extratropical storm with sustained winds between 34-48 knots. Thunderstorm — A thunderstorm is a type of storm that generates lightning and it is normally accompanied by heavy precipitation
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