Friday, September 25, 2015

Weirdest and Rarest Weather Phenomena

Snow rollers

Snow rollers are a rare meteorological phenomenon. Did you ever build a snow fort as a kid? Start with a snowball, roll it along the ground to make a giant ball? Well, in the right conditions, wind can pick up snow and roll it! 

Raining Fish
This phenomenon was once considered fish raining from the heavens, a sign, a miracle, or a curse. but we now understand that a water spout over a river, lake or ocean can pick up and deposit the fish as it moves over land and breaks apart.


A rainbow lit by the moon at night. 

Fata Morgana

This is an unusual circumstance where a mirage is created by the bending of light. It makes it appear is if there is a ship above the water iine.

Aurora Borealis or Aurora Australis

Charged particles in the atmosphere giving off colorful hues, seen in the extreme northern and southern hemispheres.

St. Elmo's Fire

A luminous discharge from a sharp point in the atmosphere, such as thunderstorm or volcanic eruption.

Dust Devils 

Dust devils are strong whirlwinds across dusty ground with an upward pull, making it gather the dirt into its vortex. 

Ball Lightning

A very rare ball of electrical discharge that occurs during lightning storms.

Sprites, Jets

It wasn't until recently that researchers saw images of earth that showed odd sprays of light in the upper atmosphere above storms. They are the mirrored part of the lightning going upward above clouds. Consider the lightning striking earth as the carrot and jets and sprites as the carrot tops.

Mammatus clouds

Pouch-like clouds that indicate bad weather. They form on the anvil of a cloud, spitting out a cycle of ice to water vapor. 


This fairly rare occurrence can seem very freaky and wrong. 

Weather is created by so many unbelievably powerful and dynamic factors, even reacting to the earth, such as when the Phoenix area complains of the "head island" that keeps storms from being able to come in - created by the concrete heating up during the day.

It is a wild and magical world and, if you're lucky, you might run across one of these; from a safe perspective, of course. 

1 comment:

  1. Thunder snow occurs on a fairly regular basis here in the Colorado Rockies. Especially in the wet Spring snows.



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