Thunder storms. Rain storms. Snow storms.

Electrical storms!
If conditions get bad enough, almost any kind of
weather can become a storm.

Stormy weather can cause people to cancel

their plans. It can cause major events to be
postponed. And severe stormy weather can be
dangerous to people, property and animals.

"Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky,

stormy weather
since my man and I ain't together, keeps
raining all the time."

Now, let's flip around the term “stormy

weather.”

If you weather the storm, or ride out the storm,

you survive and move on without harm or
injury. For example, let's talk about Tornado
Alley, the name for part of the central United
States.

During springtime, this area often has a large

number of powerful tornadoes. People who live
there are taught to hunker down in the safest
place they can find and wait for the storm to
pass. People who live in Tornado Alley are used
to weathering many storms!

"To weather the storm" can also mean to make

it through a difficult experience or trying times.
So, if the stock market crashes, you might have
to weather a financial storm. If you are a
politician who gets discredited in public, you
may have to lie low and weather the political
storm.

Often before a big storm, conditions are calm.

The calm before the storm can happen anytime.

It is the time before something bad happens.
For example, at the beginning of a family
reunion, the adults were all talking happily. But
the older children knew it was just the calm
before the storm. They’ve seen it happen
before. The adults talk happily for about an
hour. Then they start arguing about events from
the past -- things that should really stay buried!

But after the storm begins and you find yourself

in the middle of it, you are in the eye of the
storm.

In the world of weather, the eye of the storm is

the calmest part, in the center of a hurricane,
for example.

However, in the English language, if you are in

the eye of the storm, you are in the most
intense part of a conflict. For example, she had
no idea that walking into the meeting would put
her in the eye of the storm.

Now, a storm can cause great destruction, but it

can also cause excitement. It's something
people talk about.

If you want to give people something to talk

about, you might want to use the following
"storm" phrasal verb. Combining a verb with
"up" and then the words "a storm" gives you a
very useful phrasal verb. It means doing
something to a great extent or degree.

For example, if you danced all night, you can

say you danced up a storm. If you spend the
whole month writing a book, you can say you
wrote up a storm. If you are at a party and
meet someone who won’t keep quiet, you can
say they are talking up a storm.

I think you get the idea.

Let's look again at the verb "to storm." It can
also mean to attack. If soldiers storm a military
base, they are attacking it. Used another way,
you could say one storms into a place. We only
do this when we are angry and/or full of
purpose.

For example, if you find out that someone at the

place where you work is making twice as much
as you do while doing less work -- you might
storm into your supervisor's office and demand
a raise. But I would suggest that you call, make
an appointment and calmly walk into the
meeting.

There is another very useful expression

involving the word "storm." But it has two very
different meanings.

Taking something by storm can suggest a

sudden, perhaps violent attack. For example,
the police took the bank by storm and arrested
the bank robbers.
But this term can be used in another way. "To
take something by storm" can mean to have
great and sudden success in a certain field. And
that field can be just about anything.

Let's say you are a great cook and open a new

restaurant. Everyone loves it and it quickly
becomes a big success. You can then say you
took the restaurant world by storm.

Or maybe you are a gifted violinist and perform

in over 100 cities. Critics love you and they say
you are taking the classical music world by
storm.

So, taking something by storm is a good thing.

But a perfect storm is not.

In the world of weather, a perfect storm is a

violent storm that results from a rare
combination of severe weather events. We can
use this expression in other situations, but the
meaning is the same. It's when a particularly
bad or critical situation arises from several bad
and usually unpredictable events.
Let’s hear this one in an example.

You are going on a trip and you are very

excited! You have no idea that a perfect storm
is building to ruin your vacation. First, the city
where you’re going has an unexpected electrical
outage. Then when you arrive you find that the
airline has lost your luggage. And finally you
discover that a person you really don’t like is
staying in the same hotel and wants to hang out
the whole time!

There are other kinds of storms.

Firestorm is also another "storm" word that can

used when talking about the weather and real
life. An actual firestorm is a strong, damaging
fire that often has tornado-like columns of fire.

In conversation, a "firestorm" is a violent

outburst or disagreement that causes damage.
For example, the movie star created a firestorm
when she made comments about the political
situation in her home country.

However, a brainstorm does not exist in the

world of weather. To brainstorm means to try to
solve a problem by talking with other people.