Mother Nature’s wonders can be breathtakingly beautiful, but let’s not forget that she can
also easily wreak the worst havoc! And when natural disasters strike,
us humans better run to safer ground because she ain’t messin’ around! This is not a drill.
Better heed the early warning signs of these 11 Scariest and Most Dangerous Natural Phenomena!
What’s up, fact-natics! This is Discovery Amuse, serving up your daily dose of the most outrageous,
outlandish, and out-of-this-world fun facts!
Stick around because our top one pick has been a hot topic among scientists
and global leaders for decades! And it’s time for you to join in the conversation.
Better be safe than sorry!
#11: Volcanic Eruption
This spine-chilling clip of hot lava crawling towards land and making its way
into the streets isn’t a scene from a movie!
This happened in Hawaii after the Kilauea volcano spewed molten rocks and toxic gas back in 2018!
In the same year, it seemed like Armageddon came upon more than 1.7
million Guatemalans when the Fuego volcano erupted and killed 165 people in its wake.
Volcanic eruptions happen when rocks located deep within the Earth
melt due to high temperatures and begin to flow out through vents and fissures on the surface.
Slow lava flows -- like the one in Hawaii -- are destructive but rarely lead to human deaths
since people have enough time to go out of the way. But a pyroclastic flow such as the one in
Guatemala can move at speeds as high as 200 meters per second, and exceed 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit!
Keep watching because our number one entry is a silent but
deadly killer that might lead to the end of the world as we know it!
#10: Death by Brinicle Mr. Freeze:
What killed the dinosaurs? The ice age!
This surreal, downward-growing tube of ice looks just like Mr. Freeze’s ice gun,
but it’s an all too real threat for marine life. Brinicles, or ice stalactites, occur when seawater
freezes in polar oceans. The salt brine concentrates are flushed out, creating a
downward flow of dense, extremely cold saline water. Since this has a lower freezing point,
crystal ice instantly forms around the flow when it comes into contact with the neighboring
ocean water. This occurrence is very rare and only happens in extremely cold places like Antarctica.
Like a twisted version of the Midas Touch, it freezes over everything in its path, and
when it reaches the bottom of the ocean, it can spread across the seabed like sub-zero wildfire.
#9: Tornado
Did you know that an average of 1,200 twisters touch down on US soil
every year? And the most devastating tornado in recorded history happened in March of 1925,
which killed 695 people and left more than 2,000 injured.
These twisters usually come with thunderstorms, high winds, and hail.
An average twister can be around 660 feet wide and move at 30 miles per hour,
but massive ones can muster speeds of up to 300 miles per hour!
Man: Oh my gosh, hold down your window! What is it doing!
On May 23, 2011, a massive EF-5 super tornado that’s almost a
mile wide and peaked at over 200 miles per hour annihilated Joplin,
Missouri, which led to 161 fatalities and damages that amounted to $2.8 billion!
At the time of the tornado, Joplin had 5 fire stations. 2 of those were destroyed in the storm.
So basically what that did was wipe out half of our emergency response fleet.
The destructive Joplin tornado
eventually earned the title of being the costliest single tornado in US history.
#8: Fire Devil
While we’re on the subject of tornadoes… imagine a
gigantic cyclone but instead of strong winds, it’s made of fire! Holy smokes!
Whoever thought to nickname them fire devils is right on the nose because,
heck, they look like Lucifer himself conjured them up!
Kid:
I don’t think you’re allowed to smoke in here. Lucifer: Oh dear, what will become of me.
A fire devil, or fire tornado, can reach up to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit,
and most of the largest whirls are born out of wildfires. They are typically 33-160 feet tall,
but some can grow up to over 3,000-feet high, with wind speeds of more than 120 miles per hour!
Man: Once you get rotation, you are no longer able to mix air into this column
as effectively, so it starts acting a little bit more like a chimney
and the flaming can persist through a much greater depth in the atmosphere.
Sorry Ms. Chaka Khan, I want you so, but I’m not ready to go.
#7: Avalanche
Remember that nightmarish scene from the Swedish movie Force Majeure?
I don’t know about you but I’ve sworn off ski trips after watching that one!
An avalanche happens when a slab of snow collapses and slides down a steep slope,
gaining speed, mass, and volume as it descends rapidly. One of the deadliest
avalanches happened on Mount Everest in 2015, when an earthquake caused a huge
mass of ice to sweep through the base camp and kill at least 16 hikers and sherpas.
To mitigate the risks of deadly unexpected avalanches, some forest rangers actually
blast cannons and induce controlled avalanches when people aren’t around.
Still, I’d rather stay away from those snowy slopes.
#6: Landslide
While Fleetwood Mac’s landslide is arguably one of the best written songs of all time… we’re here to
talk about the real deal, that has taken tens of thousands of lives over the past century.
Landslides are often triggered by heavy rains, volcanic eruptions or earthquakes,
but human can increase the risk when they weaken a slope through irrigation,
deforestation and excavation activities.
Globally, landslides cost billions of dollars in property damages and cause
thousands of injuries and deaths every year.
This natural occurrence rocks our world in the worst way possible by disrupting transportation
routes and affecting resources like forests and water supplies, and sewage disposal systems.
#5: Lightning
Experts say your chances of getting struck by lightning in a given year is 1 in
500,000. But do you know what could be a telling sign that you’re in a higher of getting struck?
When your hair stands up in the middle of a thunderstorm!
Just like what happened to brothers Sean and Michael McQuilken in 1975, as seen in
this incredible photo. At the time, they were hiking to the top of Moro Rock in California,
when the weather suddenly turned bad and their hair started standing on end. Just
minutes after the snap was taken, the two were struck by lightning on their
way down. Miraculously, the brothers survived and lived to tell the tale.
But if you thought they were lucky, get a load of this man who was just literally inches away
from getting struck by a bolt of lightning!
VO: Wow! He’s sooo close.
Is he the world’s luckiest dude or what? Or maybe… he’s actually Thor in disguise!
#4: Wildfire
Campfires, cigarette butts and slash-and-burn methods can trigger the onset of wildfires,
but sometimes, they can also be caused by natural forces such as
lightning… just like what happened in the forests of Northern California in
August of 2020, that essentially painted San Francisco’s skyline an eerie tinge of orange.
Almost 14,000 lightning bolts over a span of 3 days ignited more than 900
wildfires in the area, which burned more than 3 million acres to kingdom come.
Man: We stopped the fire n a house over there. Stopped the fire on a house over there.
I’m just trying to save this neighborhood we have.
Aside from the immediate threat to people, wildlife and property,
these highly volatile blazes can cause airborne, microscopic particles to make their way into our
respiratory system and cause blood to coagulate, disrupting its flow to essential organs. Smoke
also contains carbon monoxide, which can result in long-term heart damage.
#3: Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of colossal waves triggered by a large volume displacement
in a body of water following a shift in the earth’s plates due to earthquake, a volcanic
eruption or an underwater explosion. Here’s a simple yet effective demo of how they work.
Man: I have to make the plates shift. Here we go. And one rolls at you.
One of the deadliest tsunami disasters of the 21st century was the one that hit Thailand in 2004.
A magnitude 9.1 earthquake occurred in the Indian Ocean, triggering a series of tsunamis and killing
over 200,000 people. The tsunami’s initial surge was measured at 108 feet, making it the largest
earthquake-induced tsunami in recorded history! It also resulted in fatalities in the
neighboring countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives.
#2: Earthquake
You’d think that with all the technological advancements we enjoy right now,
we should already be able to predict when an earthquake strikes, right? But despite all the
groundbreaking tech in the world, earthquake prediction is more complicated than you think.
Man: If they tell you that they think that earthquakes are currently predictable in
a useful way, well, they’re wrong. But we may get there.
We need to do it through the scientific process, carefully, rigorously, it’s gonna take time.
Earthquakes happen when the tectonic plates that make up the Earth’s surface
collide or slide past one another. And the surface where they slip is called the “fault.”
The seismic waves caused by these earthquakes shake the ground and anything sitting on it!
According to the National Earthquake Information Center, there are about 12,000 to 14,000
earthquakes per year. On average, smaller quakes occur several hundred times per day,
while major quakes -- or those with a magnitude higher than 7 -- happen more than once per month.
“Great earthquakes” or those with magnitude 8 and above transpire about once a year.
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#1: Global Warming
Did we really have to come to a point where a 16-year-old Swedish
girl takes to the streets to remind us all that climate change is real?
Greta: How dare you. You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,
and yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying.
If Greta Thunberg’s impassioned speeches aren’t
enough to cause you alarm, here are some quick stats.
The over-emission of greenhouse gases results in a “blanket” that traps the sun’s heat and
causes the planet to warm up. Scientists claim that unless we start curbing these emissions,
average temperatures in the US over the next century could increase by 10 degrees.
Right now, the more frequent droughts, heavier rains, and the more powerful
hurricanes we suffer can be directly linked to the earth’s rising temperatures. If we don’t
do anything about climate change, sea levels will continue to rise,
we’ll face more intense heat waves, and a huge chunk of wildlife may go extinct.
So yeah, Greta is more than just a very happy young girl
looking forward to a bright and wonderful future.
So, do you have any memorable experiences with these natural
phenomena? Tell us all about it in the comments section below!
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Now let’s do some fact-checking and debunk the 10
Myths People Still Believe! Just click the link you see on your screen, right now!
‘Til then, let’s save the Earth, fact-natics! And see you in the next video!