Recently, people all over the world have been getting used to severe storms, heatwaves,
droughts, and cold outbreaks - in short, to all kinds of atypical weather for their regions.
But some natural anomalies are so strange that they stand out, even among the most unusual
weather events.
Here are the 12 most baffling weather phenomena of the past couple years.
1.
Deep-Frozen Niagara Falls In 2018, the legendary waterfalls located
at the border between New York State and Ontario, Canada, managed to shock everyone into silence.
Tourists who arrived to admire the power of the roaring water were astonished to find
Niagara Falls frozen!
I’m jumping ahead of myself: the waterfalls weren't frozen per se, since such a feat is
impossible for a mass of flowing water that huge.
But microscopic water droplets that became airborne off Niagara Falls, as well as the
mist, formed a crust of ice over the top of rushing water.
As a result, when looking at the waterfalls, you’d think for sure that they were frozen!
In reality, the water kept flowing, but it was hidden beneath the ice.
2.
Alligators Stuck in the Water If you’d visited the swamps of North Carolina
at the beginning of 2018, you never would’ve forgotten the view that you’d have been
greeted with.
Imagine ponds filled with ice-cold water and covered with ice.
Easy, huh?
And now picture dozens of alligator snouts that are poking out of the ponds, still and
frozen in the ice.
Despite this terrifying picture, the animals are very much alive!
That's only a very special crocodile way to survive abnormally cold weather.
Since their nostrils are above the water, the predators can breathe while their bodies
are in a hibernation-like state.
It allows the animals to conserve energy and stay warm – and alive.
3.
Horseshoe Cloud In March, 2018, people who looked up at the
sky in Northern Nevada could see the rarest and most bizarre cloud ever - a horseshoe
cloud.
Unless you know the scientific explanation of this phenomenon, it can scare and puzzle
even the most experienced sky-watcher.
But meteorologists know that such a horseshoe vortex happens when a flat cloud travels over
a column of warm rising air.
This air not only gives the cloud its impressive shape, but also adds some spin to its movement.
Unfortunately, such clouds are very fleeting and usually last for only several minutes.
On the other hand, you don't need too much time to figure out what this cloud looks like
anyway!
4.
Record-Breaking Hailstorm On March 19, 2018, the inhabitants of Alabama
had to run for their lives from the huge chunks of ice falling from the sky.
It was the infamous hailstorm of Alabama, which caused millions of dollars worth of
damage.
After the hailstorm, it looked as if the place had been thoroughly trashed by savages: broken
shop windows, smashed car windshields, broken billboards, and holes in the roofs.
But what made researchers really excited, was a hailstone found near the town of Cullman,
Alabama.
This softball-sized monster was more than 5 inches across and, thus, set a new state
record.
I’m just glad I wasn’t under that gigantic hailstone when it landed!
5.
Snow in a Desert Since we're talking about the most baffling
natural phenomena, it would be a crime not to mention snow in a desert!
Yep, in the winter of 2018, the inhabitants of the Sahara Desert, one of the driest and
hottest places on this planet, woke up to discover a thick blanket of snow covering
the sand.
In some places, the layer of snow, enveloping the dunes, reached a staggering 15 inches.
Meteorologists, however, had an explanation for this exciting phenomenon.
They stated that cold pools of air, combined with the precipitation from the most recent
storm, resulted in a snowfall instead of rain.
6.
A 160-Day Storm If a storm holds back your long-planned picnic,
keep calm and think about how lucky you are that it's not the Cataumbo - the world's longest
lightning storm!
The heart of the storm, which repeats every year, is over Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, and
it towers way higher than your regular thunderstorm.
This natural phenomenon lasts for up to 160 days, and generates nearly 300 lightning strikes
a day!
You've probably heard how they say that lightning doesn't strike in the same place twice?
Well, the Cataumbo doesn’t seem to know about this rule.
At least, it doesn't prevent storm clouds from gathering in the very same place, year
after year.
7.
Orange Snow In 2018, eastern Europe witnessed an event
as beautiful as it was spooky.
Those who went skiing in Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, or Ukraine in late March, glided down
tangerine slopes under the red-tinted sky.
Puzzled and excited, people described this experience as walking on Mars or skiing down
sand dunes.
But however mysterious this phenomenon seems, it has a disappointingly simple explanation.
The sponsor of the extraterrestrial landscape was a powerful sandstorm that had arrived
from the Sahara desert.
This storm had brought along dust, sand, and pollen particles that colored the snow orange.
Interestingly, it's not a one-time natural phenomenon.
Meteorologists say that orange snow covers the lands of Eastern Europe at least once
every five years.
For example, in 2007, three regions of southern Siberia and Russia got covered with "oily"
bright-orange snow.
I think the customary rule applies here too: you should not eat yellow snow, or orange,
or any color for that matter.
Just sayin’.
8.
Wildfire That Caused a Thunderstorm One of the most common causes of wildfires
is lightning from thunderstorms.
But have you ever heard of a wildfire that triggered a thunderstorm?
Well, now you know: it happened on May 11, 2018, not far from Amarillo, Texas.
Then, the super-powerful Mallard Fire not only created a massive dense cloud, high in
the air.
Its heat also caused a violent thunderstorm that later dumped tons of quarter-sized hailstones
60 miles away, in Wheeler County, Texas.
9.
A Long-Track Tornado In early May, 2018, New England observed one
of the scariest and most dangerous phenomena ever - a super-long-track tornado!
The frightening natural phenomenon started not far from Charleston, New Hampshire, and
traveled toward the town of Webster in Merrimack County.
It took the tornado 33 minutes to cover 36 miles and become the third on the list of
the longest-track tornadoes in New England.
10.
The Frozen Atlantic During the first week of January, 2018, unusually
cold weather in the Northeast United States froze the Atlantic Ocean in North Falmouth,
Massachusetts!
What's more, the ocean was frozen so thoroughly that people were walking on the waves.
Now, that’s obviously something you don't see every day!
11.
February "Heat Wave" On February 20-21, 2018, people in the north-eastern
part of the US experienced one of the most extraordinary weather events of recent times,
and it was... a heatwave!
Yep, in February.
In fact, it was the most impressive winter heatwave since official weather records started
in the 1800s.
For example, in Fryeburg, Maine, people were taking off their coats after the temperature
had risen to a baffling 70 degrees F. In Fitchburg, Massachusetts, confused people put on sandals
when they saw the temperature outside - 80 degrees.
The same was happening in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where the temperature reached 83 degrees,
and in Wells, Maine, where thermometers showed 77 degrees.
12.
Newfoundland Summer Snow Even though the island of Newfoundland, in
Canada, probably can't be called the warmest place on Earth, it's still not that cold.
But imagine you must shovel snow in front of your house just several days before your
summer vacation!
Well, that's exactly what happened on the island in June 2018.
A cold storm that came from the coast of Newfoundland covered several regions of the island with
a 2-inch layer of snow.
Even those who’d been living on the islands their whole lives were impressed - nobody
could remember that much snow so late in the year.
On top of that, the temperature broke all the records as well.
During the summer in Newfoundland, it's about 66 degrees F on average, and 90 degrees on
the hottest day.
But that infamous June shocked people with only 37 degrees F in the morning!
Yeah, that’s pretty chilly!
How about you?
Have you seen any weird weather anomalies in the region where you live?
Let me know down in the comments!
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