Our weather patterns are weird enough, with raging fires, tornados, hailstorms, earthquakes and tsunamis wreaking havoc all over the world with increasing regularity. But there are other even more unusual weather phenomena that many people don’t even realize exist. Some of these phenomena are generated by heat, others by cold, wet conditions or ice, and some simply occur as a result of stormy weather conditions. Here are 10 of the weirdest.
#10 Mirage
Desert mirage Photo: Brocken Inaglory commons.wikimedia.org
One of the most common forms of weird weather phenomena, a mirage happens when the light refracts and produces an image that isn’t there. It often happens when the ground surface is very hot, for instance on a road or in the desert where people commonly see mirages of plants or water. Mirages are real optical phenomena that can be captured on camera, rather than simply a trick of the mind. Although mirages are known to occur at night as well as during the day, these are seldom seen.
#9 Green Flash
Amazing And Unusual Weather Phenomena http://listverse.com
An optical phenomenon enhanced by a mirage (see #10), green flashes are normally seen when the air is clear, at sunset or just after the sun has risen. Also known as green ray, it looks quite simply like a green flash over the rising or setting sun, and lasts for only a few moments. Green flash is caused by the refraction of light (from the sun) in the atmosphere, as the light separates into different colors .
#8 Moonbow
Lunar Double Rainbow! Photo Dr. Dale Cruikshank NASA
Moonbows are a similar phenomenon to rainbows, but as opposed to rainbows, instead of the arched bow of color being produced by sunlight refracting off moisture (usually drizzle or rain) in the air, the color is produced when light is reflected off the moon’s surface. Moonbows are generally much fainter than rainbows, simply because the volume of light reflected off the moon is considerably less than that reflected from direct sunlight. To photograph a moonbow, one needs to use a long exposure.
#7 Natural Halo
Halo effect… in summer! PhotoRiga.com
A natural halo is an optical phenomenon that produces a really weird looking atmospheric light around the sun. The science behind it is basically the same as for rainbows and moonbows (#8), but the halo is formed when ice crystals are refracted by the light of the sun in the upper atmosphere. Natural haloes have also been seen to form around a full moon and sometimes even around bright planets and stars. Sometimes there may be a series of circles, the one closest to the sun being the brightest.
#6 Noctilucent Clouds
Noctilucent Clouds Photo: John Boardman NASA
Noctilucent clouds (NLCs) can be seen above the North Pole in summer, when ice crystals cling to the smoky residue left by meteors, forming incredibly bright, electric-blue “clouds” that seem to have tendrils that ripple across the sky. They were first spotted in the middle of the 19thcentury after the super-volcano Krakatoa erupted. However, NASA is still not certain what causes them. The noctilucent clouds in this photograph were taken from nearly 11,000 m (36,000 ft) above and south of the Alaskan island of Nunivak in June 2006.
#5 Waterspouts
Trombe Dr. Joseph Golden NOAA en.wikipedia.org
Waterspouts look very similar to tornadoes, but they don’t feature the same destructive “supercells.” Also, they generally appear over bodies of water, usually in the form of funnel-shaped “clouds.” Most waterspouts are weak and don’t suck up water; what you see is a rotating column of air. Occasionally “tornadic waterspouts” have been reportedly formed by very severe thunderstorms. Most seem to form in the tropics and subtropical regions. The waterspout in this photograph was taken off the Florida Keys from a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) aircraft.
#4 Mammatas Clouds
Mammatus Clouds over Nebraska Photo: Jorn Olsen Photography NASA
There are many different and fascinating cloud formations we see in the sky, but mammatas clouds are really weird, looking, and more like fluffy bubbles in the air instead of the more usual flat-bottomed clouds we are used to. Often associated with storm fronts (when the air is particularly turbulent), mammatus clouds contain large droplets of ice or water that falls into clear air when they start to evaporate. Normal clouds form when the moist warm air rises, cools and then condenses into water droplets at a certain height and temperature.
#3 Pyrocumulus Clouds
Unusual Weather Phenomena http://emorfes.com
So named due to their relationship to fire (pyro-) or volcanic activity, pyrocumulus clouds form when there is heat, particularly in the form of forest fires and volcanoes. Often the cloud will have a mushroom shape and will appear as if a nuclear explosion has occurred. Weirdly, this phenomenon may also occur if a nuclear weapon has been detonated. There is strong turbulence with large pyrocumulus clouds, so much so they have been known to generate lightning, in which case the thundercloud is called pyrocumulonimbus.
#2 Fire Rainbow
Unusual Weather Phenomena http://emorfes.com
One of the most rare of the world’s weirdest weather phenomena, fire rainbows are formed high in the sky, when the sun is sufficiently high to allow light to pass through cirrus clouds that contain ice crystals. However, while they might look like firey rainbows, they are not rainbows, and are not associated in any way with fire. Instead, it is a type of ice-halo that is formed by the refraction of either moonlight or sunlight. They are seen quite often in the USA, but are rare in Europe. This is thought to be because the sun or moon needs to be very high in the sky for a so-called fire rainbow to occur.
#1 Lenticular Clouds
Lenticular Clouds Photo: Harvey Carruth www.crystalinks.com
Lenticular clouds often look more like unidentified flying objects (UFOs) than clouds. Known scientifically as “altocumulus standing lenticularis,” and nicknamed “lennies,” they are lens- or saucer-shaped clouds that form at a very high altitude and remain more or less stationary. Nevertheless, they are associated with turbulence, and are therefore avoided by aircraft pilots. On the other hand sailplane and glider pilots often look for them because the atmospheric systems that form them involve large vertical air movements that are ideal for them. The weirdly wonderful clouds in this photograph were shot in May 2011 at The Dalles in Oregon.
