Rainbow - An arc of concentric colored bands formed by refraction that occurs when sunlight passes through raindrops. Anytime you see it raining while the sun is out, there will almost always be a rainbow. Just position yourself with your back to where the sun is shining and you will find it.

Super-Typhoon - A tropical cyclone in the western Pacific basin that has one minute sustained wind speeds of a last 150 mph. This corresponds to what would be a category 4 or greater hurricane if the tropical cyclone were in the Atlantic or eastern Pacific.

Rain Gauge - An instrument used to measure the amount of rainfall that occurs over a specific site. A standard rain gauge can measure up to 8 inches. The first known device that was used for measuring rainfall was invented in Korea in 1441.

Dew - Water that has condensed onto objects near the ground when the surface temperature of the object falls below the dew point. The most common surfaces that dew will form on are grasses and other vegetation. Dew can be an important source of moisture for plants during a drought.

Backing wind - Winds that change direction in a counterclockwise sense. This occurs when wind directions turn to the left. An example is when the winds at a specific location turn from the north to the northwest. Backing winds can also refer to how the winds change direction with height. An example of this is when winds at the surface are from the north, while winds aloft are from the northwest.

Black ice - A thin coating of clear ice that can form on roadways. It is most common during the winter season and is called black ice because the dark road surface can be seen through it.

Computer Model - A system of computers which run complex physics equations on meteorological data to produce mathematical forecasts. Forecast models are first initialized with the current conditions in the atmosphere, and then thru a series of complex algorithms, they model what will be happening anywhere from 12 to 180 hours from the current time. There are several computer models that meteorologists utilize in predicting the weather.