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Big Storm Episode

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This episode made a lot of waves.
Could be a hurricane, flood, tornado or blizzard, but the result is basically the same: the plot of this week's episode takes place against a backdrop of serious weather complications. The characters will probably suffer loss of cell phone service, power outages, backed-up traffic, competition for basic necessities at the supermarket, straggling evacuees, getting cut off from wherever they need to be, and a very distracted police force spread thin trying to handle storm preparations.

If it's a mystery show, a Closed Circle will result, the detectives will often have to rely on old-school methods while communications are down, and chances are good that someone is trying to use the weather as a convenient cover-up for a crime.

If there's an action element to the show, there will be a threat of getting stranded or outright killed by the weather. Our heroes will, naturally, ignore any and all storm warnings.

In video games, this trope is used when a level takes place in stormy weather. This may often involve dodging lighting as it strikes, being pushed back by fierce winds, fighting a boss at the end of the level, or any combination of the three.

Often (but not always!) features Hostile Weather, and in the winter, the heroes may be stuck Braving the Blizzard. Contrast Rain, Rain, Go Away, which is a gentler trope more common in sitcoms and children's shows. The Big Storm Episode may well feature glimpses of Rain, Rain, Go Away or its more severe cousin Snowed-In, but the Big Storm Episode is by and large not a Bottle Episode. Expect most of the cast to be relatively mobile even if their typical mode of transportation is compromised. Can occasionally overlap with a "Stuck at the Airport" Plot, or paired with New Baby Episode for Born During a Storm. See A Storm Is Coming for more metaphorical examples.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • One Crayon Shin-chan episode have a massive thunderstorm hitting Saitama, with the authorities issuing orders for citizens to move to shelters. It just so happens that the Nohara family get to bunk in Futaba Kindergarten, right next to Nene Sakurada and her family, much to the chagrin of Nene's mother (after she's repeatedly caught in Shin Chan's antics in prior stories). Shin Chan's usual shenanigans accidentally causes everyone bunking in the kindergarten to nearly break out into a fight, but then the storm outside nearly collapses the kindergarten's chicken coop, causing everyone to put their differences aside and work together to save the chickens. They succeed, and the storm ends the next morning with everyone making amends with each other.
  • A sudden storm is plot mover of the Free! episode "Shocking No Breathing!": Rei is caught out swimming alone in the ocean during a storm at night and has to be rescued, which leads to a resurfacing of Makoto's fear of the ocean, splits the group apart (temporarily), and ultimately leads them all to take shelter in an abandoned rest house and talk about the past.
  • In HeartCatch Pretty Cure!, a typhoon strikes Kibogahana, forcing the town to hunker down. However, Tsubomi, Erika and the Gardening Club race out into the storm to protect plants they had planted earlier. This brings about the Monster of the Week as Kumojacky takes advantage of the club president's wilting confidence, forcing Tsubomi and Erika to fight in the storm. The episode is also notable for being the first of three episodes setting up Itsuki's transformation into Cure Sunshine.
  • No-Rin features an episode where the main cast were excited to go on a beach vacation away from their farming school, but a storm blows in an ruins the fun. Deciding to go a little crazy and still enjoy their "vacation" activities out in the middle of the rain, they discover that the water is building up in the vegetable fields too fast for the storm drains to clear it. This leads to them needing to open up the irrigation ditches and drain valves to maximum, but the problem didn't stop there. They then learned that a rice field is growing one particular breed of rice that sells extremely well when cultivated, but can easily be destroyed by the wind. They have to take the school's bus and drive it to the field to act as a wind barrier just to save the crop.
  • Both Pokémon: The First Movie and Pokémon 2000, films that take place during the main anime, feature storms as a central element of the plot. In the former it's created by Mewtwo so that only the worthy can reach his island, while in the latter it's due to the three elemental birds and Lugia fighting with each other.
  • Part of the episode/chapter Rainy Conductor in Sound! Euphonium features a typhoon. Overlaps with Empathic Environment as the Oumae family continues to argue over the eldest, Mamiko's decision to quit school. Kumiko would rather face the storm than the tense environment at home.
  • Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Ch. 62 revolves around a typhoon bearing down on the coastal area near where Alpha's house is located. She holes up with her elderly friend "Uncle", listening to radio broadcasts from a meteorological plane and fretting about Uncle (who was out in the storm) and her house. She returns home once the storm's blown through, only to find that the section of her house that had been turned into Café Alpha has been destroyed.

    Comic Books 
  • In the second act of Batman: Zero Year, Gotham is hit by a hurricane which is used as part of the Big Bad's plans. A bunch of titles had special tie-in issues set during this time, mostly based around the other Gotham heroes as they were at the time, but a few other titles — Action Comics, Flash and Green Lantern Corps — dealt with other characters at that time.
  • When one storyline involving The Mighty Thor involving an Asgardian artifact being opened and unleashing a blizzard across Manhattan, a few titles released around that time dealt with the fallout.
  • Before Milestone Comics ended up folding, one of their last storylines was "The Big Hot Summer", which had Dakota City hit with a massive heatwave.
  • Starfire (2015): The first two issues have a big hurricane hitting the city, with Starfire assisting Stella rescuing her brother who got stuck in the ocean trying to rescue other people. The storm also ends up creating a hole in the ground that frees the Chida monster that had been Buried Alive by Atlee before the series started. Starfire and Atlee deal with him by burying him alive again, this time deep in the ocean.
  • The reviled Ultimatum had Manhattan flooded by a vengeful Magneto.

    Fan Works 
  • The Octonauts fanfic Junior Officers has "River Riding Adventure", where a thunderstorm hits during a mission, which results in Captain Barnacles breaking his leg.
  • The Prehistoric Park fanfic Prehistoric Park Reimagined, a powerful hurricane comes down upon the titular park in the 'season/phase 1' finale Hell's Labyrinth. And while at first it seems as if things will be largely uneventful due to the park staff having managed to successfully get the park prepared in advance, the storm itself soon proves to be the least of the park's problems after first a power failure caused by the storm results in multiple animals being allowed the chance to escape from their exhibits and then it is later revealed the hard way that several carnivores amongst the park's animals have ended up unexpectedly infected with an out of nowhere Hate Plague.

    Literature 
  • Not an episode, but one book in a series: The Night Season revolves around serial murders taking place while Portland is both storming and flooding. Bonus points because the murder weapon is a cephalopod (though the flood is freshwater).
  • Brandon Sanderson's The Stormlight Archive could be considered a Big Storm Episode for his Cosmere as a whole. More specifically, each book in the series contains at least one chapter where a character is caught outside in a storm. Also these storms are supernatural in nature and extremely powerful with winds strong enough to carry boulders.
  • Warrior Cats: The appropriately-named Bramblestar's Storm centers around a major storm that causes floods, resulting in several cats dying and ThunderClan temporarily moving from their flooded camp.

    Live-Action TV 
  • 2point4 Children: "Whoopee, We're All Going To Die" focuses on a Hurricane called Bill hitting America just as the Porters are trying to enjoy a holiday in Florida. They flee to Miami, only to find that the hurricane has followed them, and they spend the episode in fear of being killed by the hurricane.
  • 9-1-1 has a Big Storm Arc with Season 3 as a massive tsunami strikes Santa Monica and the first responders deals with the fallout and the aftermath.
  • All My Children: In July 1994, a tornado struck Pine Valley, damaging property and seriously injuring several characters.
  • Barney Miller: In "Blizzard", New York is getting slammed by a snowstorm. The detectives of the 12th Precinct are not happy about this, because the streets are closed, which means the coroner's van can't get there to retrieve Mr. Lujak, who had a heart attack and died while he was being processed for arrest.
  • In the Broad City episode "Hurricane Wanda," Abbi, Ilana, Lincoln, Jaimé, Bevers, and his sister Marla wait out the titular storm in Ilana's apartment. After the storm cuts off their electricity, they play games to pass the time.
  • Burn Notice: In the episode "Center of the Storm", Michael has to help find a missing witness in the aftermath of a hurricane around Miami.
  • CSI: Miami has three.
    • In "Crime Wave," as a huge tsunami heads directly towards Miami, a ten-hour warning gives citizens just enough time to evacuate the city. In the chaos, two people are killed in a parking lot and the evidence leads Horatio to discover a plot to rob a bank timed to take advantage of the evacuation. In the wake of the storm, Ryan and Alexx discover bodies washed up from a local cemetery; however, there are 13 bodies though only 12 were buried there.
    • "Hurricane Anthony" deals with a hurricane hitting town and the team realizing that a few deaths during the storm were actually murders.
    • "Blown Away" has Ryan and Walter caught in a tornado with the team finding a murder committed by some "storm chasers" who were using the event as a cover to rob a house.
  • Death in Paradise: In "A Stormy Occurrence", as the island prepares for a hurricane, the corpse of Leo Downs — a researcher at the university's meteorological unit — is found. Although the locals all warn him about what is coming, Poole is completely unprepared for the hurricane and gets knocked out by flying debris.
  • The Desperate Housewives season 4 episode "Something's Coming" features the residents of Wisteria Lane preparing for the arrival of a tornado — making arrangements to stay in a neighbor's basements, taping up windows, getting "safe rooms" ready, etc. Like always, things all go to hell even before the tornado touches down (and during the tornado, and afterwards...).
  • Drake & Josh had the episode "The Storm". When Drake's plans to open for a band are ruined by a rain storm, Drake throws a party for the large group at home and has to keep his present girlfriend from meeting with his ex-girlfriends. Meanwhile, Walter is forced to report outside in the storm as punishment for getting the weather wrong.
  • The Elementary episode "Snow Angels" features a blizzard that forces Holmes and Watson to commandeer a snowplow in order to get around. The blizzard is used as cover for a series of thefts.
  • ER's first mass-casualty episode was the appropriately titled "Blizzard", referring not only to the weather, but to the swarm of patients brought in when the weather caused a massive pile-up in the freeway.
  • In Season 2 of Eureka, Carter's attempt to convince his ex that he's stopped putting work before family is complicated by the looming threat of a freak ice storm that may require evacuating the town.
  • Friends: Phoebe and Mike's wedding is almost cancelled due to a blizzard hitting New York which means the minister can't reach them. Luckily Joey got ordained online several years earlier to perform Chandler and Monica's wedding so he steps in to marry Phoebe and Mike.
  • The Glades: In "A Perfect Storm", Longworth gets caught up in a murder investigation that appears to be a spree killing just as a hurricane hits Palm Glade.
  • In an interesting inversion, a tsunami warning leaves the cast of Hawaii Five-0 facing most of the usual problems associated with a Big Storm Episode — traffic, distracted LEOs, everyone buying bottled water and so on — but the threat of the tsunami was faked by hacking the ocean-monitoring equipment so that someone could pull off a heist unnoticed.
  • The Haunting of Hill House (2018): In "Two Storms", the Crain family prepares themselves for Nell's funeral the next day. A storm begins, reminding them of a night in the Hill House when a massive storm hit, sending the chandelier crashing to the floor and waking everyone up. The power cuts out and Henry and Liv keep the kids together so they don't get scared. Flashing forward, everyone begins to argue about past memories (having had far too much to drink), and grow angry about their father's behaviour over the years. The power cuts out and they scramble to orientate themselves. What's even stranger is that the power outage and the storm is only at their house.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Episode 2 is titled "Adrift", and deals with a Galadriel meeting a Mysterious Stranger in the open sea on a raft. No long after they meet, they are hit by a storm and are forced to cooperate in order to survive.
  • The M*A*S*H episode "They Call the Wind Korea" has Charles and Klinger get stranded in a jeep as a violent windstorm blows through the South Korean countryside; they take shelter in an overturned truck filled with wounded Greek soldiers. Although the rest of the 4077th staff does their best to brace for the storm, Charles and Klinger wouldn't have gotten lost had Charles not insisted Klinger take a complicated shortcut to get him to Seoul for R&R. The worst part? after the storm passes, Klinger discovers they were only a stone's throw from the 4077th.
  • McGee and Me! has the episode "Twister & Shout". When Mom and Dad leave the house overnight, a thunderstorm hits Nick's hometown bringing with it a tornado. He and his friends have to learn to have faith that God will protect them from the storm.
  • An episode of NCIS: New Orleans was a flashback to Agent LaSalle's days as a sheriff's deputy during Hurricane Katrina (the episode aired shortly after the tenth anniversary of the disaster).
  • "The Wettest Day of the Year" from On the House revolved around exactly that - the builders trying to cope with a massive rainfall.
  • During the first season of Once Upon a Time, Mary Margaret nearly falls off a cliff trying to return an injured dove to its flock before a massive storm can separate the birds forever.
  • One Tree Hill has one in season 8, "Darkness on the Edge of Town".
  • In the Our Miss Brooks episode "Radio Bombay", Miss Brooks and the Madison High gang are convinced that a fierce hurricane is on the way. The only problem is that the broadcast they're listening to is coming from Bombay, India.
  • Pee-wee's Playhouse has the rainy day episode from Season 1.
  • Person of Interest: "Proteus" involves Finch and Reese stuck on an island during a storm, trying to identify among several other people trapped there which one is a serial killer. They succeed of course, but the end of the storm does not mean the end of their troubles, as the Benevolent A.I. that gives them their information has started to malfunction.
    Reese: At least the storm is passing.
    Finch: No, Mr. Reese, I have a feeling that it's just beginning.
  • The Puzzle Place has the episode All Weather Friends where the friends gather in the greenhouse to watch the passing thunderstom and Leon has to get over his fear of lightning and thunder.
  • Quantum Leap has Sam leaping into the body of the sheriff of a small Mississippi town in 1969 just as Hurricane Camille is about to hit.
  • In the Queen Sugar episode "Where With All", a hurricane rips through Louisiana and afterwards the bodies of two migrant workers are found on the Bordelon property.
  • The Red Green Show had at least two: one in an early season that wrecked Harold's chicken coop, and another in the season where Harold left where Dalton and Mike couldn't agree on what kind of storm it would be and ended up settling on calling it a "big storm".
  • Sesame Street:
    • A 1972 episode has the Street residents reacting and dealing with various situations arising from a heavy rainstorm. The episode was rerun on Noggin during the late 1990s and is commonly uploaded on video sharing services including YouTube.
    • The highlight for Season 32 (2001) was a week-long arc involving Sesame Street being hit by a hurricane. While damage was minimal, Big Bird's nest was completely destroyed, and his friends and neighbors worked together to help him clean up and build a new and stronger nest to call home. Since then, PBS has aired repeats of these episodes in response to particularly destructive hurricanes such as Katrina and Sandy to help children cope with fear and trauma. Since Season 43 (2012), parts two through five have been cobbled together into an hour-long special for such occasions. The repeats of the episodes are introduced by Gordon.
  • Shining Time Station: In "Washout", a fierce rainstorm ravages the Indian Valley Railroad, washing out a train bridge over a river. Since Schemer took out all the signal lights from the store room and put them in the pouring rain, the staff has to find a way to signal the trains that the bridge is out.
  • Stargate Atlantis has a two-parter ("The Storm" + "The Eye") in which a tidal wave of biblical proportions threatens to wipe Atlantis off the map. Efforts to prepare the city for the storm run in to trouble when a Genii strike force attempts to take over the city in the midst of the deluge.
  • Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise each had a Big Storm Episode in space. In each one, the titular starship had to weather a neutronic wavefront.
  • In February of 1999, to coincide with the Mini Series Storm of the Century that was airing in Prime Time, ABC went for a Big Storm Week, having a huge blizzard hit all four of their soaps. As luck would have it, this was completely plausible as they were all set in the Northeast, two (All My Children and One Life to Live) being in upstate Pennsylvania and the other two (Port Charles and General Hospital) being in upstate New York—the first show was even a Spin-Off of the other, making it practically a requirement that weather on one show would be identical on the other.
  • Superstore has a tornado strike the store in its season finale, appropriately named "Tornado". It's actually foreshadowed at certain points of the season.
  • Trapper John, M.D.: In the episode "Earthquake" a earthquake hits California, leaving the hospital struggling to help their existing patients and the casualties coming in while the hospital building is checked to ensure it's structurally sound. Meanwhile Trapper and Gates are trapped in a small town with Trapper helping a seriously injured woman, and Gates being held at gunpoint by a local pharmacist who believes Gates broke into his pharmacy to steal narcotics to sell and not to help the injured woman. Gates is able to convince the pharmacist and his son to take him back to the house Trapper is at, where the pharmacist quickly realizes that Gates was telling the truth.
  • Walker, Texas Ranger: Season 5's "Cyclone" detailed a gang of extortionists stealing a school bus, kidnapping a dozen children, as well as C.D. (who served as the driver) and Alex (who served as chaperone) after a field trip, and burying them all alive so they can get a $10 million ransom for each of them. Worse, a tornado was about to strike the Dallas area, and Walker and Trivette, with assistance from the FBI, had to find the bus before the storm killed everyone onboard, whether it was crumpled under the dirt and they'd run out of air or they would be swallowed by the storm. One of the members of the gang was quite disturbed by it, angrily protesting "I may be a kidnapper, but I'm no murderer!", before the gang leader shot him, but near the end, Walker and Trivette show up Just in Time and he was able to disclose the bus's location to them with his last breath.
  • The Walking Dead Television Universe:
    • The Walking Dead (2010) has an episode in Season 5 where the protagonists take shelter in a barn as a storm breaks, and they are simultaneously besieged by walkers. They awake to a peaceful morning with all the walkers killed (for real, this time) or incapacitated by the storm.
    • Fear the Walking Dead had a hurricane act as a natural antagonist in the middle of Season 4. It was largely derided due to Special Effect Failure.
  • Wimzie's House has the episode "The Storm", in which Wimzie must learn to deal with her fear of thunderstorms.
  • In the The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss episode "There is Nothing to Fear in Here", The Cat in the Hat, the Little Cats, and Terrence McBird take shelter in the Cat's Playhouse when a thunderstorm causes the lights to go out. Terrence is afraid of thunderstorms, but the cats help him overcome his fear by inventing in-the-dark games.
  • The X-Files: In "Agua Mala", agents Mulder and Scully travel to Florida in the middle of a hurricane to investigate the deaths of a couple and their son. As the storm worsens, they end up trapped in an apartment with an injured police officer, an unstable man with an attachment to his gun, a pregnant woman and her boyfriend, a petty thief, and a Sea Monster hiding somewhere in the pipes.
  • Young Sheldon: "A Mother, a Child, and a Blue Man's Backside" ends with the Coopers hiding in the bathroom as a tornado hits the neighborhood.
    • The episode "A Tornado, A 10-Hour Flight and a Darn Fine Ring" is about yet another tornado hitting the neighborhood. While no one is hurt, Connie's house is destroyed by the tornado.

    Video Games 
  • The last chapter of BoxxyQuest: The Gathering Storm, which is fittingly titled “The Perfect Storm.” Have you hit semantic satiation on the word “storm” yet?
  • Donkey Kong Country:
  • Giana Sisters DS Some of the levels take place during a heavy rainstorm with a gloomier color palette. The controls aren't affected in anyway and is purely cosmetic, though.
  • In the The Jungle Book Licensed Game, the final level, The Wastelands takes place in The Wastelands during the climactic thunderstorm from the movie the game is based on. Mowgli must dodge the lightning as it strikes. The final boss is Shere Khan, and in the SNES version of the game, the lightning assists Mowgli in the final battle by bringing him fire to use against Shere Khan.
  • The Left 4 Dead 2 campaign "Hard Rain" is denoted with this. The first half of the campaign involves the survivors traveling inland through cornfields, an abandoned sugar mill, and an abandoned coast town in search for diesel fuel to gas up their boat. The second half involves the return trip back to the boat, but the ensuing heavy thunderstorm forces the team to seek higher ground for the trip, and of course, shooting zombies in the way. The stormy ambiance also dampens microphone communication, so players may need to shout in order to be heard amidst the rain and thunder.
  • The Legend of Zelda:
    • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: During the start of the game, Link is telepathically told by Princess Zelda that she needs his help. Link has to leave his house (against the orders of his uncle) and venture through Hyrule during a stormy, rainy night so he can enter the Castle via a secret passageway. The sun rises and the rain ends by the time Link and Zelda manage to escape Hyrule Castle and reach the Sanctuary, which prompts the proper start of the young hero's adventure.
    • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: Upon reaching the Greatfish Isle during their quest for Nayru's Pearl, Link and the King of Red Lions discover that the island has been violently attacked by Ganondorf, and from that point on the entirety of the Great Sea is shrouded in an endless night with a stormy downpour. Several actions have to be performed during this questline to find the Sea Spirit (Jabun, who left his home island shortly before its destruction) and find the sacred Pearl, which helps dispel the weather's curse.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: There's a region north of Hyrule Ridge, the Thundra Plateau, which is going through an abnormally intense stormy downpour. When Link arrives the central area, he's told by the voice of a Sheikah monk that he has to solve a puzzle to unveil a Shrine so the storm dissipates. During this period, Link must not wear any metallic equipment or weapon unless he has the Thunder Helm, or else he'll risk being caught by a lightning (which spells instant death unless the aforementioned special helmet is worn).
    • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: Part of the questline to find the fifth Sage during the decisive phase of the story has Link unveil the mystery surrounding the Thunderhead Isles floating the jungle of the Faron region. After solving a certain riddle, he manages to reduce the density of the stormy clouds so he can start exploring them and delve further into the questline's main objective; however, the surrounding storm is still strong enough to periodically send lightning strikes in case Link is currently wearing a metallic weapon, shield or bow (though he can still wear them if he manages to nullify the deadly effects of the lightnings with the Thunder Helm or the Rubber Set).
  • Episode 5 of Life Is Strange takes place (mostly; when not in an alternate timeline) during the storm that's foreshadowed at the very beginning.
  • In Poptropica, Survival Island's first episode starts with a storm that destroys your blimp.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog:
    • In the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog, the first act of Sky Base Zone takes place during a thunderstorm. As Sonic travels to Dr. Robotnik's airship, he must dodge the lighting from the barriers as they flash.
    • In the Master System and Game Gear versions of Sonic 2, Act 2 of Sky High Zone takes place in both rainy and windy weather, combining this trope with Gusty Glade.
    • In Sonic Drift 2, Rainy Savanna, the second track of the white cup, combines this with Jungle Japes.
    • In the Sega Saturn and PC versions of Sonic 3D Blast, Rusty Ruin Zone takes place in rainy weather. The Saturn version even adds fog.
    • In Sonic Adventure, Sonic's story begins with Sonic fighting Chaos 0 outside City Hall in rainy weather. A downplayed example happens in Windy Valley as Sonic gets sucked into a tornado, but he escapes easily.
    • In Sonic Adventure 2, White Jungle, the ninth level in the Dark story, combines this with Jungle Japes. This level also has a time limit due to Robotnik planting bombs set to blow up Prison Island.
    • In Sonic Mania, the outside of Act 2 of Flying Battery Zone takes place in stormy weather. As a Call-Back to Sky Base Zone from the Master System and Game Gear versions of Sonic 1, Sonic must dodge the lightning from the barriers as they flash, but unlike the ones in Sonic 1, these ones Sonic can gradually destroy.
  • Super Mario Bros.: In Super Mario Odyssey, when Mario first enters New Donk City, it is raining. The rainstorm clears after Mario defeats the Mecha-Wiggler.
  • In the TaleSpin Licensed Game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, the third level, the Storm Clouds, combines this with Level in the Clouds. In the prologue to this level, Rebecca reveals that Don Karnage and his Air Pirates have planted mines in the clouds, so Baloo must dodge the lightning as it strikes them. The boss of the level is Mad Dog and Gibber in their planes.
  • In Taz-Mania (Sunsoft), the level "Rainy Daze" takes place in rainy weather. Also overlaps with Jungle Japes.
  • The Toy Story 2 Licensed Game has three levels that take place in rainy weather; "Allies and Gullies", "Slime Time", and "Tarmac Trouble", which serve as the fifth, sixth, and fourteenth levels, respectively.

    Web Animation 
  • This is one of the many stock plots from the various GoAnimate "Grounded" videos. The plot of these usually involves a severe thunderstorm hitting, virtually always involving a tornado. The tornado will usually ravage everything except the groundee, leading to their punishment because they couldn't do a simple job. Sometimes, the tornadoes are manmade and created by the groundee.

    Webcomics 
  • At one point in Freefall, Sam's spaceship (now used as an airborne vehicle) is used to rescue people from a hurricane. During the rescue, Florence falls off the ship, leaving her stranded, which eventually leads her to meet her future Love Interest Winston.
  • In Yokoka's Quest, there is a storm raging during Yokoka's encounter with Hurricane (she was also the cause of the storm).

    Western Animation 
  • Arthur.
    • S4's "The Blizzard" brings all of Elwood City to a halt when a sudden blizzard slams the city, snowing people in, and throwing them into the dark as they all try to conserve heat and food.
    • S19's "Shelter from the Storm" deals with a huge storm tearing through Elwood City, and even destroys a character's home. While citizens help with cleanup efforts, Brain has to seek therapy from Celebrity Star Idina Menzel to cope with his emotional trauma.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender has a Big Storm Episode imaginatively titled "The Storm".
  • Clifford the Big Red Dog. In "Stormy Weather", the citizens of Birdwell Island work feverishly to sandbag the town's flood-prone library so it does not take on water.
  • Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood:
    • "A Storm in the Neighborhood / After the Storm" is all about this - a big storm comes through the neighborhood in which the characters live. The episode is all about storm preparation before the storm, how to stay safe and keep calm during the storm, and helping out with cleaning up afterwards.
    • This is also covered in the double-length story "The Neighborhood Snowstorm." In this one, as the title suggests, the Lake of Make Believe is hit by a big snowstorm. Daniel and his classmates are sent home early from school when the snow starts getting really heavy and Daniel nearly slips on the snow. A broken pipe causes Daniel's room to get flooded and this in turn is due to the heat being out, which caused the pipe to freeze. Ultimately, everything works out okay, as Mom and Dad Tiger send Daniel and Margaret over to the Platypus house to keep warm, while they fix the heater and broken pipe.
  • The episode "Daria!" from Daria doubles as a Musical Episode. A great storm is coming to Lawndale, and Daria and her family must find refuge.
  • Doug: "Doug On His Own" has Doug having the house all to himself when his parents are out chaperoning Judy's school dance, but having watched a scary movie with a storm brewing outside, which eventually causes a power outage and having to go into the basement to find the fuse box, he eventually learns it's not all cracked up to be.
  • Dragon Tales has the episode "Stormy Weather". When the group's playdate is interrupted by a thunderstorm, triggering Ord's fear of thunder, the group has to help him get over it.
  • The season 5 finale of Dragons: The Nine Realms revolves around a blizzard hitting Rakke Town and putting everyone in danger when it knocks out the power and thus central heating. Doubles as Power Outage Plot.
  • The DuckTales (2017) episode "Timephoon!" involves the residents at McDuck Manor preparing for a hurricane hitting Duckburg. Things soon escalate when Louie goes time-travelling for lost treasures and unwittingly causes time anomalies that merge with the hurricane, resulting in the titular storm.
  • Elena of Avalor has "Snow Place Like Home", where the Delgados are pursued by the royal guard and cast a blizzard spell to get them off their track. This being Noche Buena/Christmas Eve, it messes with everyone's plans to spend the day with their loved ones. Meanwhile, the Delgados are having trouble traversing the blizzard and Carla even breaks her leg, and Gabe and his colleagues are too busy chasing them down to join in Noche Buena with their family and friends back home. We also learn that Esteban's jerkass behavior in this episode is partly because he's scared that he'll lose his cousin and grandparents in the blizzard since he also lost his parents to a storm, and we also get a reunion between the Delgados and the Missing Mom.
  • Seth MacFarlane's three shows had a crossover in 2011 where the cast of Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, and American Dad! had to deal with a hurricane blowing through their towns.
  • Hey Arnold! "The Flood" has Mr. Simmons's class stuck at P.S. 118 after he insists his students stay after school for a lesson in teamwork and unity when a torrential storm strands them while the waters rise. Grandpa Phil and Oskar set out to save Arnold and his classmates, while cabin fever drives the kids into panic and insanity.
  • The season one finale to The Loud House, "Homespun," centres around the Loud family taking shelter in their basement after hearing warnings about a tornado coming towards them.
  • The Mike, Lu & Og episode "A Boy's Game" involves a monsoon threatening to flood the island, and the gang tries to get Og to save them by building a water pump. Unfortunately, Og is too preoccupied with beating a video game to notice or care.
  • The second half of the 90s Mr. Men episode "A New House For Mr. Wrong" involves Mr. Wrong using his new upside down house to save Little Miss Splendid, Little Miss Sunshine and Mr. Uppity when a flood hits Misterland.
  • Nature Cat has "Thunderstruck" in which Nature Cat and the rest are outdoors collecting items of nature for a nature scrapbook. However clouds roll in and Daisy anticipates a thunderstorm. They retreat into Hal's newly carpeted dog house for safety, consequently learning how the physics of thunderstorms is analogous to the static electricity gathered from Hal's carpets, and other facts about thunder.
  • With the premise of Rescue Heroes being about an elite group of emergency responders, pretty much every other episode is one of these, with Billy Blazes and his companions dealing with and responding to severe thunderstorms, hurricanes, and tornadoes on a regular basis. Of note are "Storm of the Century" which involves the team dealing with a freak weather pattern that is causing wild stormy weather across the USA and Canada, and The Movie wherein the team must deal with a series of storms that have the potential to cause a disaster of apocalyptic proportions if they converge.
  • Seven Little Monsters has the episode "Spooky" where the Monsters have to deal with a storm at home when Mom is not home. The storm knocks out the lights and Four, who claims to be the bravest of all is really the biggest scaredy cat of the bunch.
  • The Simpsons:
    • The first half of "Hurricane Neddy" is about Springfield preparing for and dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane coming through town.
    • In "Skinner's Sense of Snow", Principal Skinner forces the students of Springfield Elementary to go to school during a blizzard and the kids attempt to escape. There's a subplot about Homer and Flanders struggling to drive through the snow in order to rescue the children.
  • The Winnie the Pooh short Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (later incorporated into The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh) is about a massive windstorm and a flood hitting the Hundred Acre Wood, causing much trouble for Pooh and his friends.
  • SpongeBob SquarePants has the episode "Pineapple Fever" which has Squidward trapped in the same house as SpongeBob and Patrick when a storm blows through Bikini Bottom.
  • Thomas & Friends is very fond of this kind of episode:
    • In "Percy's Promise", a rainstorm hits Sodor as Percy is tasked with taking the children from the Vicar's Sunday School home. A section of track gets flooded, and Percy has to travel through it, which becomes difficult when it puts out his fire.
    • In "Henry's Forest", a storm destroys the titular forest, and Henry has to assist Donald with clearing away the fallen trees. Toby, Terence, and Trevor later plant new trees.
    • Midway through "Cranky Bugs", a storm rages across Sodor, and Gordon, James, Henry, and Duck are trapped in a shed at the docks, which gets knocked down by an out-of-control tramp steamer, along with Cranky. Cranky has to be saved by Thomas and Percy, whom he had earlier given a hard time and given them the blame.
    • In "James and the Trouble With Trees", a rainstorm causes a tree in Henry's Forest to slide down a bank and stand upright on the tracks. James approaches the tree while pulling a freight train and has to be rescued by Thomas, since the train is too heavy for him to push back alone.
    • In "Toby and the Flood", a dam breaks during a rainstorm, causing a flood that causes Toby to float downriver on a wooden bridge when he attempts to cross it. Toby has to be rescued by Percy and Harold before he goes down an Inevitable Waterfall.
    • At the beginning of "The Old Bridge/The Old Iron Bridge", the titular bridge is damaged by a storm. When Skarloey crosses the bridge, he ends up on a broken beam and dangles precariously over the edge. He is rescued by Rheneas, but becomes afraid of crossing the bridge even after it's repaired. He eventually overcomes his fear when Rheneas runs out of water on the bridge as a result of doing both Skarloey's work and his own.
    • In "Edward's Brass Band", a rainstorm rages through Sodor, which floods the road and makes mud that Bertie gets stuck in.
    • In "The Refreshment Lady's Tea Shop/The Refreshment Lady's Stand", a rainstorm hits the Skarloey Railway following the day Peter Sam was tasked with finding a new location for the titular tea shop. When he is tasked with clearing away the storm's damage, he finds an abandoned coach that gets turned into a mobile tea shop.
    • In "Toby's Windmill/Toby and the Windmill", the titular windmill is damaged by a lightning storm, and Dusty the Miller is unable to afford the timber to make the repairs. When Toby finds a fallen tree, he uses the wood from it to rebuild the windmill.
    • In "Salty's Stormy Tale", a fierce rainstorm causes a lighthouse's generator to short out. Fergus uses his flywheel to power the generator and save an incoming ship from crashing.
    • At the beginning of "Emily's Adventure", a storm damages Farmer McColl's barn, and Emily is tasked with delivering timber to repair the barn.
    • In "Calling All Engines!", a storm damages the Sodor Suspension Bridge, as well as Tidmouth Sheds and the Sodor Airfield. The Steam Engines and the Diesels have to work together to get all three repaired.
    • In "Duck in the Water", a section of track gets flooded during a rainstorm. Duck gets stuck in the flooded track and has to be rescued by an impatient James.
    • In "School of Duck", a storm damages the classroom at Harwick School, and all the children have to be brought by train to Knapford for their lessons. Duck is keen to do the job, but he needs a coach. After searching all over Sodor, he finds Dexter, an abandoned coach who gets turned into a mobile classroom.
  • We Bare Bears: "Hurricane Hal" involves the Bears each having their own subplot when a hurricane hits; Grizzly has to look after the Poppy Rangers while Ranger Tabes is out on the job, Panda is stranded at Charlie's home along with a bunch of wild animals, and Ice Bear and Chloe try to get home from a roller rink when the storm hits.
  • X-Men: Evolution has "Adrift" where Scott and his brother Alex decide to catch some surfs having ignored the weather forecasts only for Alex to be swept away by the waves. Alex doesn't want to be embarrassed so Scott doesn't contact anyone whatsoever and chases after him in a speed boat. His fellow mutants at the X mansion watching the news comment theres no way Scott is caught up in that weather. As Scott and Alex are moments away from drowning, Scott summons the coast guard in a helicopter by saying "maybe someone will save us" but the helicopter is struck by lightning. Epic twist. Of course, Scott summons the X jet and his friends when he utters that another miracle can save them. Even Storm could not overcome this weather and they exited swiftly. Quite the brilliant episode really.

 
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Downpour Uproar

One of the Wonder Effects causes Mario to go through a raging storm that has a lot of rain, and a lot of lightning.

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