When Does a Thunderstorm Become Severe?

3/18/2022 (Permalink)

You hear the term thunderstorm and severe thunderstorm used often this time of year in our area, but what's the difference?

A thunderstorm is a rain shower during which you hear thunder. Since thunder comes from lightning, all thunderstorms have lightning.

A thunderstorm is classified as “severe” when it contains one or more of the following: hail one inch or greater, winds gusting in excess of 50 knots (57.5 mph), or a tornado.

According to the NOAA, here are an estimated 16 million thunderstorms each year worldwide. This means that at any given moment, there are roughly 2,000 thunderstorms in progress on Earth. There are about 100,000 thunderstorms each year in the U.S. alone. Wow! About 10% of those reach severe levels.

We specialize in flooding and storm damage restoration. It is the cornerstone of our business! We have extensive water damage and storm restoration training that allows our team to get your home back to normal quickly.