Radstorm



Radstorms are natural weather phenomena that occur throughout the Commonwealth and in Appalachia.

Background
Radstorms result in green overcast skies, high-speed winds, lightning, and radioactive wind from latent radiation of local areas. An approaching radstorm will give off a clap of its distinctive thunder to signal its arrival. The storms do not last long, typically around one or two hours. Over the course of the storm, lightning periodically flashes and causes a brief spike of radiation in the area, inflicting 5 rads per lightning flash. Sheltering within the interiors of buildings during radstorms will provide protection and reduce the amount of accumulated radiation.

Randall Clark describes a possible radstorm as far back as January 2078. In his description, the storm lasted 2 days and once it was over radiation levels had subsided from previous highs by 500. Looking outside his cave home, he found glowing green snow covering the ground.

Locations
In the Commonwealth, radstorms are far more common than any other area. This is thanks to the close vicinity of the Glowing Sea. Often atmospheric pressure systems of the area sweep that radioactive material of the Glowing Sea and throw it into in the metro area of Boston.

In Appalachia, radstorms can usually be seen approaching from the distance by their appearance, which is a green version of the clouds created from the blast zone of a nuke. Once they have passed over the player characters, they will absorb radiation from the storm unless wearing power armor or a hazmat suit to reduce the radiation absorption until the storm has subsided or moved on before dissipating. Rad-X can be used as a temporary means to reduce the radiation damage while the storm is active.

Appearances
Radstorms appear only in Fallout 4 and Fallout 76.