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Science has the answers for even the most peculiar and mysterious weather patterns.
Science has the answers for even the most peculiar and mysterious weather patterns. (Photo: Aurora Photos)

The World鈥檚 Weirdest Weather鈥擡xplained

Haboobs? Volcano lightning? Keep your hat on, the sky isn't falling just yet.

Published: 
Science has the answers for even the most peculiar and mysterious weather patterns.
(Photo: Aurora Photos)

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It's not just the typical thunderstorm,听tornado,听or hurricane听we need to worry about anymore. The elements are stirring, and weather is changing鈥攊n ways that can be strange and frightening, fascinating and wild. And while some of the obscure and unexpected chemistry is dangerous, it's these same bizarre phenomena that make being alive a perpetual thrill.听

Haboobs

A haboob rolls through the Erg Chebbi Desert in Morocco.
A haboob rolls through the Erg Chebbi Desert in Morocco. (Pavliha/iStock)

What:听听up to a mile high and moving at speeds up to 60 miles per hour.

Where:听Mainly in North Africa, Australia, the Middle East, and the U.S. Southwest.

How:听As a thunderstorm dies, dry downdrafts up to 100 mph hurtle loose sand and dust听into the air.

Superfreaks:听In January 2013, Australian tugboat workers near the coastal town of Onslow snapped cell-phone photos of a听, a 50-mph orange monster that merged with a billowing white shelf cloud and swept over the Indian Ocean at sunset.

The forecast:听鈥淢ost studies indicate drier conditions in the Southwest over the coming decades,鈥 says Arizona State University geographical sciences professor Randy Cerveny. 鈥淭hat would likely mean drier thunderstorms and more haboobs.鈥

Waterspouts

A waterspout is photographed over Lake Victoria, Uganda. Thousands of small birds can be seen flying around at its base.
A waterspout is photographed over Lake Victoria, Uganda. Thousands of small birds can be seen flying around at its base. (Julia Cumes / Aurora Photos)

What:听An up to听听鈥 sometimes containing a visible funnel cloud 鈥 that can move at 30 knots and create winds of 200 miles per hour.

Where:听The Great Lakes, the Mediterranean, and most tropical and subtropical shallow seas. The Florida Keys average 100 to 500 spouts a summer.

How:听As warm, moist air rises to form low-lying cumulus clouds over large bodies of water, winds create a swirling vortex that can send a column of condensation up into the clouds鈥 base.

Superfreaks:听Waterspouts have knocked down telephone poles and lifted Cadillacs. They also could explain accounts of听: as water gets sucked into an updraft, critters can be, too. Citizens of the Australian town of Lajamanu 鈥 326 miles from the nearest river 鈥 say it has happened at least three times in the past 40 years.

The forecast:听鈥淚f the models are right about rising sea-surface temperatures over the next century, we may see an increase in waterspout activity in the Florida Keys and tropical island nations,鈥 says former NOAA scientist Joseph Golden.

Volcano Lightning

Lightning and lava meet at Japan's Sakurajima Volcano.
Lightning and lava meet at Japan's Sakurajima Volcano. (Martin Rietze / Media Drum World / Aurora Photos)

What:听Electromagnetic discharges that ignite during eruptions and inside ash plumes.

Where:听Any big, explosive eruption ejecting massive ash clouds, such as Eyjafjallaj枚kull in Iceland or Chait茅n in Chile.

How:听As magma breaks apart, it becomes charged, creating vent lightning that strikes out around the volcano鈥檚 mouth. Plume lightning can form as far as several hundred miles from the volcano, as erupted ash, rock, and gas interact with moisture in clouds to create bolts up to 20 miles long.

Superfreaks:听When Alaska鈥檚 Mount Redoubt erupted in 2009, more than 30 explosions over a two-month period generated more than听, with plume-lightning storms traveling 60 miles from the rim. Scientists measured 20 sessions of vent lightning as the eruption continued for two weeks. Bolts could be seen 80 miles across Cook Inlet from the town of Kenai.

The forecast:听No change. According to Ronald Thomas, a professor of electrical engineering at New Mexico Tech, incidences of lightning don鈥檛 increase over time.

From 国产吃瓜黑料 Magazine, Jul 2013
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Lead Photo: Aurora Photos

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