UNBELIEVABLE Natural Phenomena

Nature is a wonderful thing, and we are so fortunate to witness some of the most spectacular natural events that are so strange yet exquisite at the same time. It’s hard to fully understand how each of them occur, and today we’ll take in some amazing examples of mind-blowing natural phenomena.

10 – Sailing stones…
This rare occurrence sees heavy stones sailing across the sand, and it’s one of those situations that if you didn’t see it happen, it would be hard to believe. It takes place with no external intervention and stones of up to 600-pounds have moved along with the perfect combination of natural events. This phenomenon happens on a playa, which is dry lake. The playa receives a little water which freezes during cold winter nights, that with the light winds, pushes the rocks across the surface, leaving a trail behind in the softened mud.

9 – Turquoise Ice Crystals…
On Lake Baikal in Russia during the middle of Winter when the lake freezes over, you can bear witness to these incredible turquoise ice crystals. This is the largest freshwater lake in the world, and holds roughly 20% of Earth’s fresh water. When it freezes, transparent ice forms on the surface, giving off this spectacular turquoise colored hue.

8 – The Black Sun…
The Black Sun has nothing to do with the sun, but everything to do with starlings. Up to 50,000 of them can be seen together at one time in areas of the UK, and they look like a giant black sun. The whole experience is called a murmuration and it is thought to happen for several reasons: Safety in numbers, warmth and to exchange information.

7 – Rainbow eucalyptus…
These unusual trees are found in the Philippines and Indonesia and also go by the name of rainbow gum. The different colors come from the different ages of the trees bark. For example, the youngest bark is bright green and it contains chlorophyll. As the tree gets older, so the bark changes color to purple, then red and finally brown as it loses chlorophyll. Many of these beautiful trees are turned into white paper each year.

6 – Dirty Thunderstorm…
It’s not a cocktail or a shooter that you can order from the bar, but rather something that occurs in nature that is rather unique. It’s a type of lightning that happens when there’s an electrical charge between tiny particles of water and ice inside clouds. It’s also called Volcanic lightning, and it forms inside thick ash plumes. The ash particles rub against each other creating friction which then explodes into the open air and separates – and electricity is then created. These dirty thunderstorms happen on average once ever 18-months.

5 – Altocumulus Clouds…
Most of us are taught that a cumulus cloud is a pretty, puffy white cotton ball type of cloud, indicating that weather is pretty good and nothing ominous is on the way… that is until a front passes, and they grow into large, foreboding thunderstorm clouds know as cumulonimbus. Altocumulus clouds are mid-level clouds with each individual cloud being smaller than your cumulus clouds. This particular image has brought Reddit users into a frenzy, with many stating that it’s a photo-shopped image. Others claim that it’s the reflection of the sunset – regardless of the cause of it, the image is no less spectacular.

4 – Fire Whirls…
This is a type of whirlwind also referred to as a fire devil or fire tornado, but is not really a tornado at all, more like a whirlwind. They’re not formed by conditions high in the atmosphere, but rather by hot, dry air that has risen very quickly from the ground due to fire. The fire whirl is made up of flames and ash and only last a few seconds. Despite the fact that they only exist for mere seconds, they are very dangerous. Temperatures can reach up to 2,000 °F and can reignite ashes causing further, extensive damage. During the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake in Japan, a massive fire whirl claimed the lives of 38,000 people within 15-minutes. In total, casualties amounted to 142, 800 and the fire devil was responsible for the single greatest loss of life.

3 – Agitated waves…
Also known as Undulatus asperatus but for the purpose of this video, we’ll stick to roughened or agitated waves. They’re not waves, but rather a cloud formation that look like giant rolling waves. They’re the first type of new cloud formation named since 1951.

2 – Waterspouts…
Similar to our fire tornadoes, these are like liquid tornadoes and they usually form during storms, although there has been the odd one that has randomly come up on clear open waters. You generally find them in the Florida Keys, but some have been spotted on the Greet Lakes.

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