Extreme Weather

This lesson covers common terms used to describe extreme weather events. You will learn precise vocabulary, collocations, and how to use these words in professional contexts such as reports, safety briefings, and business communications.

• Names of events: hurricane, tornado, blizzard, drought, flood, heatwave
• Adjectives and verbs commonly used with these events: severe, widespread, to hit, to evacuate, to issue a warning
• How to describe impacts and precautions in formal language

Focus on matching the right term to the context (e.g., 'blizzard' = heavy snow; 'heatwave' = prolonged high temperatures).

Focus on common word pairings and formal verbs used in reports:

• Use adjectives like 'severe', 'widespread', 'minor' before the event: 'severe flooding'
• Common verbs: 'to hit', 'to cause', 'to trigger', 'to force (someone) to evacuate'
• Use 'a' or 'an' for single events ('a tornado'); use no article with uncountable concepts ('flooding was extensive')

In formal writing, prefer neutral verbs (e.g., 'affected' or 'disrupted') over colloquial ones.

Avoid these universal errors when using extreme weather vocabulary:

• Confusing event nouns and general phenomena: use 'a tornado' for a single event, 'tornadoes' for multiple, and 'tornado activity' for general discussion
• Incorrect article use: say 'a heatwave' or 'the heatwave' (when referring to a specific one), not 'heatwave' without context
• Mixing countable and uncountable forms: 'a flood' vs 'flooding' (flooding is uncountable when describing the situation)
• Wrong collocations: use 'heavy rain' not 'strong rain'; use 'strong winds' or 'gale' rather than 'heavy wind'

When in doubt, check whether the term refers to a specific event (countable) or a general condition (often uncountable).