T
Section of the Earth's crust which moves in relation to the other plates. The amount of movement is usually measured in centimetres each year.
How hot or cold something is, measured with a thermometer.
A day on which thunder is heard at least once in a location.
Thunderstorms are cumulonimbus clouds with lightning and thunder. They often come with rain and hail, are usually short-lived and affect a relatively small area.
For terms describing thunderstorms in forecasts see:
Rain with thunder. An area of rain that contains thunderstorms.
Timings refer to local time in each state/territory.
Early in the morning
Expected before 7 am
In the morning
Expected between 1 am and 11 am
In the late morning
Expected between 9 am and noon
During early afternoon
Expected between noon and 4 pm
During the afternoon
Expected between 1 pm and 9 pm
In the evening
Expected between 6 pm and midnight
Later in the evening
Expected after 9 pm
Tall, rapidly rotating column of wind 5–1000 m in diameter. Tornadoes are attached to the base of a cumulonimbus or large cumulus cloud and can cause damage on the ground. They may form water spouts when they happen over water.
See also Funnel cloud.
Ozone concentration in the atmosphere above a point.
Combined height of the sea and the swell that mariners experience on open waters. Refers to the average height of the highest third of the waves.
Also known as combined sea and swell, or significant wave height.
Rainfall observers report a trace of rain when a little water can be seen in the rain gauge, but there is less than 0.1 mm in total.
This is often reported as 'tce' or 'tr' in rainfall bulletins.
Rainfall amounts between 0.1 mm and 0.2 mm are reported as 0.2 mm in rainfall bulletins.
Predicted path of the centre of a tropical cyclone.
East to southeasterly winds (in the southern hemisphere) which affect tropical and subtropical regions, including the northern areas of Australia. During the monsoon season in northern Australia, the easterly trade winds are replaced by moist northwesterly (monsoonal) winds from the Indian Ocean and southern Asian ocean waters.
In the northern hemisphere the trade winds blow east to northeasterly.
So in both hemispheres, they tend to blow from the east to the west and towards the equator.
Very intense low pressure system that forms over warm ocean waters in the tropics (low latitudes). It brings damaging winds, torrential rain, large waves and storm surges.
Elongated area of low pressure. On a weather map a trough shows as a dashed line, which often extends outward from a low-pressure centre.
Generally, the wind changes direction as you cross from one side of a trough to the other.
Term used in the northwestern Pacific for a tropical cyclone.