They look like regular doors and windows to me. Well, the doors are made of glass, which is pretty much the last material I’d want a door made out of if I were expecting storms.
Normally these doors/windows have removable glass panels which cover up a mesh screen, to keep out insects. In the summertime you take out the glass and have a screen door/window, and in the fall/winter you put the glass panels back in to keep the windstorms out.
It’s storm, as opposed to screen door/window (which would let the storm in).
And storm doors and windows, like screen doors and windows, are used in addition to the regular/basic doors and windows, not in place of them. It’s sort of like long underwear - not what you’d choose to wear by itself in the cold, but very helpful when added to your regular clothes.
Glass is necessary to maintain the ability to see out, and is quite capable of standing up to the rainstorms and snowstorms these things are designed for. We’re not talking about rockstorms.
Where I come from, “storm windows” are removable glass or plastic panels which you slide into tracks on the window or door frame, in front of the screen, during the winter months. They provide extra insulation and protection from heavy rains. When the weather gets nice, you remove the storm windows. I found this to be quite possibly the most useless and absurd of all childhood chores, and vowed that when I got my own house I would have windows with the amazing property of actually keeping the weather out, no matter the type, without additional work.
Early U.S. homes had storm shutters. I’d guess that when they went to removable windows/screens, they kept the name “storm” for the windows. Now most homes have sliding devices that don’t require removal.
Ooooooh.
To add to Gary T’s analogy to long underwear, having a door that could convert to weather-proofing in winter vs screen ventilation in summer was a boon before easy air-conditioning of houses. Now, not so important.
Every window in every house I’ve lived in has had the clear glass+screen setup all year long. I’ve always lived in Florida, where “storms”=hurricanes and the air conditioner stays on all night, and I guess it just never occurred to me that a window could be set up any other way.
When I first heard of storm windows I assumed they were some sort of metal protection to place over the normal window to keep serious moving debris from causing damage, but when I actually saw one it looked exactly like every other window I’ve ever seen. Now I understand why. 