Meteopedia — Weather glossary

Weather encyclopedia with 342 terms

Browse detailed definitions of atmospheric phenomena, cloud types, measurement instruments, regional winds, meteorological scales, climatology and more.

342 Meteopedia 16 categories
All (342) Atmospheric phenomena (50) Instruments (30) Scales and measurements (10) Clouds (36) Wind (34) Precipitation (24) Temperature (15) Cyclones and severe storms (14) Atmospheric optics (16) Meteorological astronomy (5) Climatology (34) Marine meteorology (15) Air quality (10) Agrometeorology (10) Hazards and safety (10) General (29)
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Atmospheric corona

A luminous ring of colours appearing around the sun or moon, caused by diffraction of light by water droplets or ice crystals.

Atmospheric optics

B

Belt of Venus

Pink band visible on the horizon opposite the sun during twilight, caused by backscattering of sunlight in the atmosphere.

Atmospheric optics

Brocken spectre

Optical phenomenon in which the observer's shadow is projected onto fog or low clouds, surrounded by a rainbow-coloured halo.

Atmospheric optics

C

Circumzenithal arc

A brightly coloured arc appearing in the sky above the sun, formed by refraction through ice crystals.

Atmospheric optics

Crepuscular rays

Diverging beams of sunlight visible when rays filter between clouds or mountains, made visible by scattering off atmospheric particles.

Atmospheric optics

D

Double rainbow

Optical phenomenon with a second, fainter rainbow above the primary with inverted colours, caused by a double internal reflection of light inside raindrops.

Atmospheric optics

F

Fogbow

An arc similar to a rainbow but white in colour, formed by refraction and reflection of light in very small fog droplets.

Atmospheric optics

G

Glory

Optical phenomenon producing concentric coloured rings around the observer's shadow projected onto clouds or fog.

Atmospheric optics

Green flash

A brief flash of green light appearing at the upper rim of the solar disc during sunrise or sunset.

Atmospheric optics

M

Mirage

An optical illusion caused by the refraction of light through layers of air with different temperature and density.

Atmospheric optics

R

Rainbow

Multicoloured arc produced by refraction, reflection, and dispersion of sunlight in water droplets.

Atmospheric optics

Red sky

Reddish colouring of the sky at sunrise or sunset caused by Rayleigh scattering, which filters out blue wavelengths and lets reds pass through the atmosphere.

Atmospheric optics

S

Solar halo

Luminous ring around the sun produced by refraction of light in ice crystals of high clouds.

Atmospheric optics

Sun pillar

Vertical column of light extending above or below the sun, caused by reflection of sunlight off horizontally oriented ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere.

Atmospheric optics

Sundog

A bright spot of light appearing on either side of the sun, caused by refraction through atmospheric ice crystals.

Atmospheric optics

Supernumerary bow

Additional narrower, fainter colour arcs appearing just inside the primary rainbow, caused by light wave interference.

Atmospheric optics