Severe weather phenomena are weather conditions that are hazardous to human life and property.
Severe weather can occur under a variety of situations, but three characteristics are generally needed: a temperature or moisture boundary, moisture, and (in the event of severe, precipitation-based events) instability in the atmosphere.
The list of weather records includes the most extreme occurrences of weather phenomena for various categories. Many weather records are measured under specific conditions—such as surface temperature and wind speed—to keep consistency among measurements around the Earth. Each of these records is understood to be the record value officially observed, as these records may have been exceeded before modern weather instrumentation was invented, or in remote areas without an official weather station. This list does not include remotely sensed observations such as satellite measurements, since those values are not considered official records.