Are natural hazards which are caused as a result of either weather or climate events.

Weather refers to rainfall, temperature, humidity, wind. Climate refers to the long-term average of these things.

At their worst, these events can have enormous impacts on agriculture, infrastructure, biodiversity and the economy.

These hazards influence our cultural practices, settlement patterns and government regulations.

They can also operate on different times scales and geographic scales. Droughts can drag on for months/years and others develop then dissipate in a matter of hours (hailstorms).

One major point of difference, however, between meteorological hazards and tectonic hazards relates to human causation. There is compelling evidence to show that the frequency, severity and scale of meteorological events are exacerbated by human activities.