BlindLoop

5 Astonishing Natural Phenomenon

July 11, 2010 Oddies

St Elmo’s Fire

St Elmo’s fire is a plasma created by grounded object in an atmospheric electric field (i.e. Thunderstorms), what you see is actually a plasma created by a discharge of energy on the point. St Elmo’s Fire was most commonly seen on ships in the olden days, which is why it was named for St. Erasmus, the patron saint of sailors.

Usually St Elmo’s fire appears in bright blue or violet glow and from pointed structures lightning rods, masts, spires and chimneys, and on aircraft wings.

Fire Whirls

Fire whirls are created by two different factors; one is a tornado that spins too close to a forest fire, or a spinning whirlpool of flame occurring in an area due to too much heat in immediacy.

Fire Whirl exist in an environment where there is organized source of angular momentum, either from wind shear or from the fire’s convection column, which in turn creates large swirl velocities as air is entrained into the fire plume (Battaglia et al. 2000).

Fire whirls occur most frequently where heavy concentrations of fuels are burning and a large amount of heat is being generated in a small area; Fire whirls are extremely dangerous, in 1923,during a Great Kanto earthquake in Japan, a fire whirl was created in a massive firestorm, that whirl alone killed 38,000.

Waterspout

Waterspouts are tornadoes over water and they are usually formed by new rain clouds, in most cases, waterspouts are created while the cloud they are attached to is still developing; Waterspouts are common in tropical areas where thundershowers occur frequently, such as around the Florida Keys and according to statistics people living in Florida keys see 400-500 waterspouts per year.

Waterspouts are always located below a cloud and above a body of water; they are actually made of water droplets formed by condensation.

Red Rain

In 2001, colored rain fell in the Kerala region of India. Most of the rains were red, but some were yellow, green or black. Many superstitious the red rain to blood, making it quite a terrifying spectacle for anyone superstitious.After a comprehensive study conducted by Indian Government, it was found out that Red rain was caused by algae spores sucked into the atmosphere by a waterspout.

Red Rain often described as “Blood Rain”, is usually composed of silex (33%), alumina (15.5%), chrome (1.0%), carbonic acid (9.0%), and a “combustible substance of a carbonaceous nature.”

Raining Animals

Raining animals is a very rare weather phenomenon and it is very common in countries like Honduras, where residents celebrate the yearly Lluvia de Peces (Rain of Fish); Most of scientists believe that water spouts are actually responsible for this weird phenomenon.

Many different animals have rained from the sky, including frogs, birds, bats, worms and fish. Some animals actually survive the process, but most die in the fall. In some cases, the animals actually freeze to death while in the clouds and dropped to the ground in an ice casing.

Tags: Most