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13 Bizarre Weather Facts
Supercell is the name given to a continuously rotating updraft deep within a severe thunderstorm (a mesocyclone).
Supercells are often carriers of giant hailstones and although they can occur anywhere in the world they’re most frequent in the Great Plains of the US.
Giant hailstones occur when compacted snow is blown upwards as well as downwards, further compacting the snow, producing even bigger hailstones.
The largest hailstones are called megacryometeors and have been known to reach up to 25lbs (10 kg).
Gravity Waves are caused with air is displaced in the vertical plane, as a result of updrafts coming off mountains or during thunderstorms.
The upward momentum of the draft triggers into the air pocket causes changes in the atmosphere, altering the fluid dynamics.
The Aurora Borealis, or Aurora Australis for the southern hemisphere, are charged particles from the Sun that have reached the Earth’s upper atmosphere and become excited.
They are more typically seen closer to the poles and during the equinoxes of the year.
Excess smoke, dust, and eclipses can cause the moon to change color, such as blue, orange, or red.
Mammatus Clouds are odd-shaped clouds are often associated with a storm front, especially one involving a thunderstorm.
A fire whirl is either a tornado spinning too close to a forest fire or a whirl created from too much heat in the area, often occurring during bush fires.
Fire whirls can be as high as 30 to 200 ft. tall and up to 10 ft. wide but only last a few minutes, although some can last for longer if the winds are strong.
Pyrocumulus clouds form from the fast and intense heating of an area to create convecture, caused by volcanoes, forest fires, and nuclear explosions.
Non-aqueous Rain, Rare and yet real, cases exist of rains of animals instead of water. This has occurred occasionally throughout history, from the Biblical times up to recent history.
But one of the most bizarre events is a recurring shower of fish that falls between the months of May and July in the Honduran Departamento de Yoro, an annual rain of fish festival.
It is generally thought that the animals (or minerals) are sucked up by powerful updrafts during a storm and then spat out with heavy rains.
A fire rainbow is an extremely rare phenomenon that occurs only when the sun is high allowing its light to pass through high-altitude cirrus clouds with a high content of ice crystals.
The Green Ray or also known as the Green Flash occurs very briefly before total sunset and after sunrise.
It appears as a green flash above the sun that lasts very briefly, generally only a few moments. It is caused by refraction of light in the atmosphere.
The spherical snow rings known as snow donuts, or snow rollers, happen when temperature must be around freezing, the snow easily packable and there must be strong winds.
Ball Lightning this is a very rare phenomenon that involves ball-shaped lightning that moves much slower than normal lightning.
It has been reported to be as large as eight feet in diameter and can cause great damage. There are reports of ball lightning destroying whole buildings.