Weather phenomena are not something boring and plain as there are so many occasions when irregularities can occur, creating absolutely fascinating visual results. Here is a list of the most beautiful and impressive weather anomalies.
Sprites, jets and elves are unique weather abnormalities that were only discovered last century, appearing as cones, glows and discharges in the upper atmosphere around thunderstorm areas.
Ball lightning is another very rare weather anomaly that involves a ball-shaped lightning moving much slower than the common phenomenon. Its size can reach eight feet in diameter usually causing great damage.
Green ray or the Green Flash appears briefly after sunset and before sunset manifesting through a green flash above the sun that only lasts for a few moments.
Fire rainbows are extremely rare, only occurring when the sunlight passes through the high-altitude cirrus clouds that contain high levels of ice crystals.
Katabatic winds are those carrying dense air from higher elevation to a lower elevation caused by the gravity effect. They have various names such as the Santa Ana in Southern California, the Mistral in the Mediterranean,
Virga is another quite common weather anomaly occurring when ice crystals fall from clouds but evaporate before hitting the ground, creating a cloud trail effect, giving the clouds a jellyfish-like appearance.
Non-aqueous rain are a highly inexplicable weather anomaly when it actually rains with animals and not water. Such rare events have been recorded from Biblical times and up to recent history.
Diamond dust usually occurs due to fog made of frozen droplets.
Sun pillars are in fact pillars of light caused when the setting sun reflects off icy clouds at different levels in the atmosphere. There are also moon pillars that occur due to the same reasons.
Pyrocumulus clouds form due to intense and fast heating of an area that creates convection, usually occurring near volcanoes, forest fires and nuclear explosions.
Fire whirls can be something very spectacular to watch. They occur wither when a tornado spins too close to a large fire or simply when there is a whirl created due to excessive heat in the area.
St. Elmo’s fire is a luminous plasma phenomenon that occurs like fire on objects, in electrically charged areas. The name of this weather abnormality comes from St. Elmo, the patron of sailors.
Mammatus Clouds are often associated with thunder storms but their weird shape and structure is not yet fully understood.
Coloured Moons appear when there are certain atmospheric issues, such as excess smoke, dust or even during eclipses, when the moon may slightly become tinted with a color such as blue, orange or red.
Aurora borealis is maybe one of the most stunning weather anomalies, taking place when charged particles for the Sun enter the Earth’s upper atmosphere. The auroras more often appear near the poles and during the equinoxes
Noctilucent Clouds are another beautiful weather phenomenon, occurring when the Sun’s light, at dusk, is refracted by these atmospherically high clouds.
Belt of Venus usually occurs during dusty evenings, when a band of pinkish or brownish sky is visible between the sky and the horizon.
Haloes are formed around the Sun due to the moisture in the atmosphere or sometimes ice crystals refracted from the Sun’s rays. Haloes may also occur around the Moon or Venus.
Mirages generally occur on hot surfaces, where the light is refracted to produce an image of an object that is not actually there.
Moon bows are a much rarer weather phenomena than the rainbows, appearing only at night when the moon is low and full to almost full.
