Understanding The Weather Terms

Since we get really confused about some terms of weather like difference between showers and rain and cyclone and hurricane etc. So I am going to give a little brief information about many confusing and similar terms.

• Shower and Rain- Rain is a more widespread event. Rain causes wet condition almost all over the area eg Rain will cause whole Islamabad to get wet. Rain is more heavy and last longer.  Showers is a spotty event. Showers will cause wet condition in some areas eg Showers will cause very few areas of Islamabad to get wet. Showers are very weak in intensity and they end up in minutes after that the sun shines.
• Cyclone and Hurricane and Typhoon- Cyclone is a term used in the Indian Ocean, South Altanic Ocean, Australian region and  South Pacific Ocean. Hurricane is a term that is used in North Altanic Ocean and Eastern Pacific Ocean. Typhoon is a term that is used in Western Pacific Ocean.  All of these storms have same characteristics that is they produce deadly winds, rains, waves and if they are strong they have a cloudless eye.
• Thunder and Lightening- During heavy downpour continues lights can be seen in the dark sky that is called lightening and the sound we hear after that is called thunder.
• Tsunami and Cyclone- Most people especially in Pakistan think that tsunami and cyclone are same but in fact they are totally different. Cyclone brings heavy rainfall, damaging winds, sometimes even tornadoes and deadly waves. While tsunami is a series of waves that are generated by a powerful earthquake in the sea. Tsunami can occur anytime if there is a earthquake in the coastal cities.
• Flash floods and Urban floods- Flash flooding occurs when heavy rainfall occurs over the the snow-filled mountains during summer that causes them to melt and thus a deadly wave is generated in the river that destroys everything in its path till it ends up in the sea. These type of flood occur in Pakistan almost every year. Urban flooding is a term used to describe when a major metropolis is flooded with heavy rainfall. These floods are mostlystagnant. These flood occur in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad almost every year during the monsoon season.
• Western Disturbance-  It is an  extratropical storm that originats in the Mediterranean sea, that brings  winter rain and snow to the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent. The moisture in these storms usually originates over the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.