Weather wonders
Red October sky is nothing compared to this lot
Skies overhead glowed an eerie red on Monday, prompting many folk to wonder whether the Apocalypse was nigh. The hint of red October was caused by a plume of Saharan sand pulled in by Hurricane Ophelia and was also blamed for a nasty whiff over the Isle of Wight. Skies were further darkened by smoke from wildfires in Portugal. But if you were freaked by the bloody sun and scarlet skies, check out this other weather weirdness.
Willy-willy
In Aboriginal myth the willy-willy are spirits which emerge from a spinning vortex. Today we call them dust devils – upward spirals of air reaching 1,000ft. Unlike tornadoes, willy-willies grow upwards from the ground. They travel across the ground and, besides dust, they may also carry loose debris. In 2011 a boy and a girl were seriously injured when a willy-willy blew their bouncy castle 15ft into the air, over a fence and into the middle of a busy highway in Tuscon, Arizona.
Lenticular Clouds
As wind blows across hilly or mountainous regions, the air undulates in downstream waves. With enough moisture in the air, the waves condense to form unique disc or lens shaped clouds which can be seen up to 60 miles away. They could explain a lot of “UFO sightings”.
Catatumbo Lighting
This phenomenon occurs for 160 days a year but only over the mouth of the Catatumbo River in Venezuela. Warm and cold fronts meet at a point were marshes emit methane gas, improving the electrical conductivity of clouds. The lightning can last for 10 hours at a time.
Morning glory
These long, rolls of clouds are so rare that very little is known about their formation. First spotted by Australian Air Force Pilots in 1942 they are associated with frontal systems crossing the country. But they are a familiar sight only to the residents of Burketown and the glider pilots who flock there to ride the rolls.
red sprites
These blasts of red light can soar up to 60 miles from the top of a cloud during a thunderstorm. They usually correspond with positively charged cloud-to-ground lightning and last for only a few seconds. Blue jets are similar to red sprites, but they’re negatively charged and appear as cones of blue light that occur lower in the atmosphere.
animal rain
The sky may not rain cats and dogs, but it has been known to rain frogs, fish and other animals. Tornados and waterspouts are thought to suck the creatures up before they then “rain” them down again. In 1957 thousands of small fish, frogs and crayfish fell from the sky during a rainstorm in Alabama. Many of the fish were still alive and placed in ponds and swimming pools. In 2013 it rained crabs in Florida and frogs in Hungary and Los Angeles had a shower of worms in 2007.
st. Elmo’s Fire
A film of the same name helped Rob Lowe and Demi Moore to fame in 1985. But it took its name from the phenomenon in which static electricity forms during thunder storms and rises up tall objects. It is named after St Erasmus of Formiae, aka St Elmo, the patron saint of sailors – as seafarers have reported balls of fire dancing on deck and climbing ships’ masts.
Ball Lightning
Balls of light that float slowly through the air during thunderstorms have been fascinating people for centuries. These glowing spheres range in size from golf balls to footballs and emit no heat and little sound. But some have reached eight feet in diameter and caused great damage. There are reports of ball lightning destroying whole buildings.
Fire devils
A tornado-like vortex of flames is formed when a tornado spins too close to a forest fire or when a heavy concentration of heat is generated in a small area. Like tornados, fire whirls vary in size and duration but usually last no more than a few minutes. In 1923, a fire whirl emerged during Japan’s Great Kanto Earthquake and killed 38,000 people.
ice Bombs
Exceptionally large hailstones, sometimes called ice bombs can fall from the sky during severe thunderstorms and shatter into smaller pieces when they hit the ground. One ice bomb was found to weigh 80lbs. The largest hailstone ever to fall in the US was found in South Dakota on July 23, 2010, weighing 1lb 15 oz, with an 8in diameter.
sea Foam
Hurricane Ophelia brought another freak weather phenomenon to our shores this week. The town of Cleveleys, Lancs, and Trearddur Bay in Holyhead, Wales, found themselves awash in “sea snow”, occurring especially when the water contains algae and waste, reducing surface tension.