We've all heard of phobias such as arachnophobia (fear of spiders), claustrophobia (fear of being in an confined areas) and so on. But, what about being terrified by elements of the weather? It may seem unusual, but in fact weather phobias affect a wide range of people and can be caused by a variety of conditions.

In the US, thunderstorm phobias are in the top 10 of fears suffered by the population, indicating how many people potentially suffer from them.

But what exactly happens when someone has a weather phobia?

The reaction is similar to any kind of phobia - the person will get physical symptoms, such as heavy breathing, insomnia, nausea, panicking, sweaty palms and so on. Those suffering from weather phobias will be obsessed by watching weather forecasts to see what the forecast looks like for the week ahead to see if they have any reason to be concerned.

Any sign of approaching weather which could set off their phobia, means panic can begin, before the weather has actually arrived. Writers on our message board recently discussed this topic, one writer has a phobia of storms: "…strong winds and driving rain have affected my health. If there are signs in the forecasts, of which I am an avid follower, of impending severe weather, my whole body goes into a sort of panic mode, even before the weather arrives. When the storm does arrive, it always seems to be at night, I cannot sleep."

It's not just winds which have an effect, one writer explained how she suffers during thunderstorm periods: "I hate summer because I have a thunderstorm phobia. I am constantly on edge from May to September and can only start to relax once the cooler weather comes along in autumn. I get worse after each storm and am usually a nervous wreck at the end of summer. I am now obsessed with thunderstorms and am already dreading next summer."

So, what kind of fears are there, here are some of the weather phobias we managed to compile:

Achluophobia - Fear of darkness
Ancraophobia - Fear of wind
Anemophobia - Fear or wind
Antlophobia - Fear of floods
Astraphobia - Fear of thunder and lightning
Astrapophobia - Fear of thunder and lightning
Brontophobia - Fear of thunder and lightning
Ceraunophobia - Fear of thunder
Chionophobia - Fear of snow
Cremnophobia - Fear of precipices
Cryophobia - Fear of ice/frost
Cymophobia - Fear of waves or wave like motions
Eosophobia - Fear of dawn or daylight
Heliophobia - Fear of sun/light
Homichlophobia - Fear of fog/mist/smoke/steam Keraunophobia - Fear of thunder
Lilapsophobia - Fear of tornadoes and hurricanes
Lygophobia - Fear of darkness
Nephelophobia - Fear of clouds
Nephophobia - Fear of fog
Noctiphobia - Fear of the night
Ombrophobia - Fear of rain
Pagophobia - Fear of cold, ice and frost
Pluviophobia - Fear of rain
Psychrophobia - Fear of cold
Scotophobia - Fear of darkness
Thermophobia - Fear of heat
Tonitrophobia - Fear of thunder