Please use the form below to suggest new terms or request changes or updates to preexisting terms. Your suggestions will be sent directly to the Chief Editor of the Glossary of Meteorology.

Guidance for Formatting a Definition

  1. Define the term in one sentence as concisely as possible. Use terminology that lay people will understand and terms already defined in the Glossary. Underline or bold type the defining terms that are defined in the Glossary of Meteorology.
  2. When appropriate, add a brief second paragraph with not more than two or three sentences that provide additional information about the word, e.g., where a phenomenon occurs, when it occurs, how it is used, etc. For definitions that include equations, define each variable.
  3. Include a list of related words in the Glossary.
  4. Optionally, include one or two readily available online publication references that are readily available to the Glossary user.

Example definition:

Term: Tropical cyclone

Definition: A warm-core, non-frontal synoptic-scale cyclone, originating over tropical or subtropical waters with organized deep convection and a closed surface wind circulation about a well-defined center.

Cyclones that originate over tropical waters. Mature cyclones can have winds as high as 175 knots (200 mph), and range in size from 60 miles to 1000 miles in diameter.

See also: hurricane, typhoon, equatorial vortex, easterly wave. Compare with extratropical cyclones.

References:

Please note that AMS does not support the use of colloquial terms or expressions. The proposed term or revision should be a term used in published literature, which when appropriate, is the reference shown in the reference dialog box.

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