C08
Understand severe-thunderstorm wind, hail, lightning, impact wording, and watch language without turning thresholds into exact-address forecasts.
Hazard-meaning guides for damaging wind, hail size, lightning, storm impacts, and the limits of watch wording.
Use this hub when the alert mentions hazards and you want the plain-language meaning. Severe thunderstorm criteria can involve damaging wind, large hail, and related thunderstorm dangers, but a watch still describes possibility over a broad area.
The guides explain terms and limits. They do not forecast damage for one roof, vehicle, tree, route, or address.
Published guides
This topic page lists published guides; drafts and placeholders are not shown.
A scope guide for lightning and Severe Thunderstorm Watches: a watch does not prove lightning is happening now, but thunderstorms bring lightning hazards that require official guidance.
Reader job: Understand whether a Severe Thunderstorm Watch means lightning is already happening and what lightning risk belongs inside the watch boundary.
Read guideA plain explanation of the one-inch severe-hail threshold, NWS hail-size reporting by diameter, and why a watch does not guarantee hail at every location.
Reader job: Understand the official hail-size criterion for severe thunderstorms and how that criterion fits a Severe Thunderstorm Watch.
Read guideA watch-boundary explanation of severe thunderstorm wind-gust criteria: 58 mph wording, possible gusts across a watch, and why a threshold is not an address-level forecast.
Reader job: Understand the official wind-gust criterion for a severe thunderstorm and what that threshold does and does not imply during a Watch.
Read guide