Almost every ancient polytheistic culture had weather gods. Most of us know about Thor, the god of thunder, but there were gods of wind, rain, lightning, and more in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Weather has always fascinated and confused humanity. And even today, when we can explain it all with science rather than the whims of all-powerful beings, there are still phenomena that occasionally baffle the best of us, some of which have nothing to do with weather at all. With that in mind, let’s take a look at 10 of the world’s weirdest weather phenomena.
10. Meat Shower in Kentucky
Rest assured, it doesn't rain meat anywhere in Kentucky. But that doesn't mean it never has. And when you learn the whole story, you'll wish it had just rained meat, because that's a lot less disgusting than the truth about this mysterious event.
There was a day in 1876 when the residents of Olympia Springs were treated to meat from heaven, said to be quite substantial in size. One witness described it as " full horse wagon ", which was not a literal measurement, but simply an 1876 way of saying "a lot." It covered the space 100 yards x 50 yards .
So, people came out to look at the meat, which was falling in small pieces and scraps. A few brave and/or foolish people also decided to taste the meat to see what it was.
The meat was sent off for analysis, and although most locals lost interest in it, one scientist came up with an explanation. The meat was from vultures. In other words, they ate it, then flew away, vomiting it all over the town.
It turns out that the vultures are thrown everywhere in panic. This makes them lighter and allows them to escape faster. The theory, based on the condition of the meat, fits the details.
9. Watermelon Snow
Watermelon snow sounds like it should be delicious, but we recommend not putting it in your mouth if you ever see it. It's a less delicious and refreshing treat than algae snow. Chlamydomonas nivalis . Unlike most algae, which are happy to grow in standing water or ponds, this species just loves snow. And while you can technically survive on it in small amounts, you'll probably get diarrhea because of their problems.
This is usually what is known as summer snow algae, meaning that it thrives in the snow that remains in high altitude areas during the summer months when the weather is warmer in lower altitude areas. It forms reddish-pink streaks or pockets in the snow that can be mistaken for blood. The red part actually protects the algae from UV radiation.
8. Star Jelly
There's a good chance you could sell a product called Star Jelly as a breakfast food, but that's neither here nor there. In real life, star jelly owes its origins to a potential cornucopia of sources, thanks to the fact that people tend to lump the mysterious goo into one category.
While folklore suggests that it fell from the sky ( (hence the name), star jelly can actually come from many places, and some of them can be potentially dangerous. These can be simple oviducts frogs or gelatinous aquatic bryozoans that have gathered together. Sometimes fungi can form gelatinous clumps, especially if they are rotting, and even slime molds fit the bill.
7. Atmospheric rivers and lakes
A relatively new discovery, atmospheric lakes and rivers are a lot like they sound. The concept of atmospheric rivers is a little older than lakes, and they're pretty remarkable. Capable of reaching 1,000 miles in length and 400 miles across, an atmospheric river is a stream of water vapor in the atmosphere that can dump a hell of a lot of water as it descends. Up to the equivalent of 25 rivers of the Mississippi If that's too intense for you, there's a newly discovered atmospheric lake.
Like an atmospheric river, but not as fast-flowing, an atmospheric lake is a vast reservoir of water vapor in clouds. It is essentially lake in the sky . Unlike the river, which sounds very intense, the atmospheric lake, which is open over the Indian Ocean, was thought to contain enough water to form a puddle 620 miles wide , but are only a few inches deep. They move in areas where there is almost no wind and form in equatorial areas near coastal areas. They can also last for almost a week as they move slowly, bringing rain to often very dry and arid places.
6. Sun Dogs
Anything with a name like sun dog has to be at least a little cool, and luckily this rare occurrence is indeed. You have to be very lucky to find a sun dog, as the conditions have to be just right. It needs a right angle, in this case 22 degrees . In the atmosphere inside cirrus or cirrostratus clouds there should be ice crystals If the clouds are there and you, the viewer, are in the right position, you get a sun dog or a phantom sun.
The sun dog effect is that the sun appears to be surrounded by a massive halo of light, and on either side of it, another sun is visible at the edge of the halo. Depending on how you look at it, they may appear to have spikes or crowns coming off of them. So three suns together, and the other two often appear slightly smaller than the actual sun as a whole.
5. Fog in the apartment
Human-caused climate change is a hotly debated topic these days, but if you're still not convinced that humans can influence the weather, take a look at fog in an apartment building to see the most graphic example of this you will ever find.
Known in Panama City, Florida, condo fog occurs when hot, moist air hits the artificial wall of a condominium. It rolls off the Gulf of Mexico and then crashes against the condo walls, rising into the air and cooling, creating a wave of white fog.
The air cools by about one degree Celsius for every 100 meters of altitude it gains. The flats forced the air to rise about 50 meters to get past them, but that a drop in temperature by half a degree enough for it to condense into clouds. As soon as it reaches the building, the temperature changes again and the clouds evaporate, leaving the apartments and only the apartments shrouded in fog.
While it is interesting to see this happening over buildings, it is very similar to the phenomenon where mountain peaks are also covered in fog. We just accept it as a more normal phenomenon when we see it in the mountains rather than on buildings along the coast.
4. Steam Devils
A dust devil is what happens when a patch of dry land gets hotter than the land around it, and the rising air starts to swirl like a weak tornado, lifting dust along with the ground. It's not the most common occurrence, but most of us have at least heard of it. It's not the only weather devil, though. A much rarer, but equally stygiansteam devil somewhat opposite to its dusty cousin, and is found over bodies of water or damp ground rather than on dusty patches of ground. They have been observed to form on frozen grass , when the sun falls on it and begins to heat the frozen surface, creating the necessary temperature difference.
Like a dust devil, it forms when conflicting air temperatures create a vortex. In this case, the water on which the steam devil forms is usually warm when a colder air current reaches it. The warm, moist air from the water rises into the cold air and begins to rotate, pulling in water vapor from below. They don't usually grow very tall, often only a couple of meters high.
3. Luvia de Pecas
Raining animals is certainly a strange phenomenon, but there are so many articles about it these days that it’s easy to find explanations. Typically, things like fish and frogs falling from the sky are associated with waterspouts sucking the animals out of a body of water and moving them elsewhere, or simply flash floods making it look like they fell after a storm. But raining fish, known as lluvia de pecas in Yoro, Honduras, works a little differently.
Yoro is privileged to enjoy a regular rain of fish. This happens once or twice a year and has been observed by crews from places such as National Geographic . Or at least partially. They couldn't confirm that the fish fell from the sky, but they did see fish on the ground.
The small silver fish that appear are not a native species. They also appear to be blind. This has led some to speculate that they inhabit an underground river and are pushed to the surface during particularly strong storms. during floods and leave them on the ground. This could explain why they are always found in the same place, rather than being scattered all over the place, for example, if they are being besieged by a waterspout.
2. Blackbird Shower
History is riddled with stories of animals falling from the sky. lluvia de pecas is just one of many examples. It rains frogs And tadpoles . It is known that spiders also fall like rain and larvae And in 2022, hundreds of yellow-headed blackbirds fell from the sky over Chihuahua, Mexico.
Unlike many of the animal rain incidents that have occurred in the past, the blackbird incident was caught on camera, so you can see it happen first hand, and it's pretty dramatic. The birds crash like someone dropped them off a bucket, and unfortunately, many of them don't survive the fall. But why did it happen in the first place? Frogs at least have an excuse to fall when they get airborne, but birds can fly.
While it's just a theory, the most plausible explanation seems to be that the birds "flared up » , that is, a large bird of prey probably attacked the flock, and in a panic they all dove as fast as their little wings could carry them. The result was an ill-timed escape that sent too many of them crashing to the ground too quickly.
1. The Chi'yan Event
The weather can be terrifying and deadly. It is said that Hurricane Galveston 1900 killed between 8,000 and 12,000 people. In 1970 Cyclone Bhola could kill up to 500,000 people. About 20 people per year dies from lightning strikes in the US. And several people even died from hail . What about some other destruction from the sky? How deadly is it when it rains fire?
In 1490, residents of Chin-yang, China, witnessed what is now thought to be an asteroid explosion. At the time, however, it was thought to be a rain of rocks that rained death and destruction across the countryside.
It is believed that at least 10,000 people died in this incident. The fallen stones weighed from 1 to 1.5 kg In more understandable terms, some were supposed to be the size of a water chestnut, and others - goose egg But they also fell from space, and their speed must have been incredible.
Historical reports of the incident are considered reliable , and there are precedents where objects have broken into many thousands of pieces, which could explain the death toll if this had happened in a populated area.
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