WHAT ARE HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL HAZARDS?

Hydrometeorology
it’s a branch of meteorology and hydrology that studies the transfer of water and energy
between the land surface and the lower atmosphere.

Hazard: any source that can cause harm or damage to humans, property, or the environment.

Hazard and risk are often used intertwined, but they are different. Risk is defined as the
probability that exposure to a hazard will lead to a negative consequence.

Definition hydrometeorological hazards

When you look up the definition of hydrometeorological hazards you will find:
“Process or phenomenon of atmospheric, hydrological or oceanographic nature that may cause
loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services,
social and economic disruption, or environmental damage”.

The hazards you can think of are tropical cyclones (typhoons and hurricanes), thunderstorms,
hailstorms, tornados, blizzards, heavy snowfall, avalanches, coastal storm surges, floods
including flash floods, drought, heatwaves, and cold
spells.

Extreme weather

Due to global warming and climate change, these natural hazards are expected to increase.
These extreme weather events have a high impact on the world.

According to *Unesco these three

hydrometeorological hazards have one of the highest impacts:

*Unesco: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Floods
›they affects every country and cause more fatalities and more property damage than any other
type of hazard.
Not only does it cause injuries and deaths, but floods can also disrupt water purification and
sewage disposal systems, and can cause toxic water waste sited to overflow.
›is the overflowing of normal confines of a stream or bodies of water, or the accumulation of
water over areas that aren't normally submerged. While flooding may last days or weeks, Flash
Floods are also caused by heavy precipitation in a short period, usually less than six hours.

Hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons: are severe storms that form over tropical water.
Windstorm
related events worldwide cause an average of 30,000 deaths and US$2.3 billion in damage
each year.
a storm with very strong wind but little or no rain or snow; a gale.

Droughts
while floods and storms are often sudden, droughts are slow events that can cause large
agroecological damage and seriously disrupt socioeconomic life.

Tropical Cyclones
are hydrometeorological hazards characterized by strong winds and heavy rain? Every year, an
average of 19 tropical cyclones enter the Philippines located on the western rim of the Pacific
Ocean, where most tropical cyclones pass.

Tropical Cyclones can have a forecast lead time of 5 days.

Storm surge
a rising of the sea as a result of atmospheric pressure changes and wind associated with a
storm.

Thunderstorms
a storm with thunder and lightning and typically also heavy rain or hail.

Hailstorm
a storm of heavy hail. hail-pellets of frozen rain which fall
in showers from cumulonimbus clouds.

Avalanche
a mass of snow, ice, and rocks falling rapidly down a mountainside.

Tornado
is a rapidly rotating column of air that is in contact with both
the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the
the base of a cumulus cloud.

Drought
a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall, leading to a shortage of water.

Heatwave
a prolonged period of abnormally hot weather.

"When a heatwave occurs many people become increasingly bad-tempered"

Cold spells
a period of cold weather.

What’s the difference between El Niño and La Niña?

In Spanish, El Niño means “the little boy” and La Niña means “the little girl.” They are sort of like
a brother and sister. Like many siblings, the two
weather patterns are opposites in almost every way. La Niña causes the water in the eastern
Pacific to be colder than usual.

El Niño
A flow of unusually warm water along the western coast of South America causes many
changes in weather in other places.

La Niña
it is a climate pattern that describes the cooling of the surface waters along the tropical west
coast of South America.
It is considered to be the counterpart of El Niño.