Dust Bowl - An extended period of exceptional drought that affected the Great Plains of North America during the 1930s. Agricultural activities were crippled during this epic drought. Heat waves and occasional dust storms were fairly common during the dust bowl years. On some occasions, the dust storms in the Plains made it all the way to the east coast.

Rayleigh Scattering - Rayleigh scattering is the scientific term that describes the selective scattering of the various wavelengths of visible light that are emitted by the sun. When sunlight passes through air molecules, the shorter wavelengths of blue and violet light are scattered more than the longer wavelengths of red and orange during the day. Because our eyes are more sensitive to blue light, we see the sky as blue during the day. At sunrise and sunset, the longer path light must take through the atmosphere to reach us results in the blue light scattering away before it reaches us. This is why we see the orange and red hues during these times.

Chionophobia - A person who suffers from Chionophobia has an irrational fear of snow or snow storms.

VIL - This is an abbreviation for "Vertically Integrated Liquid." This is a quantity that can be shown on a radar display. It is an estimate of the mass of precipitation in the air. It is given in units of kilograms per square meter. High VIL totals tend to indicate large hail or very heavy rainfall.

Q Vectors - These vectors are calculated by meteorologists in order to find areas of the atmosphere with vertical ascent. They are an important tool because their interpretation allows meteorologists the ability to diagnose areas of lift in the vicinity of fronts as well as upper level jet streaks. Diagnosing lift is key to meteorologists because lift results in clouds and at times precipitation.

Isotherm - A line on a weather map joining locations of equal temperature. When looking at weather maps displaying temperatures across the lower 48, isotherms are used to divide the country in different colors based on the varied temperatures. Oftentimes, each isotherm will indicate a change of 5 or 10 degrees.

Chionophobia - A person who suffers from Chionophobia has an irrational fear of snow or snow storms.