Have you ever seen a ball of lightning traveling in the air? Or what about red rain pouring down hard? Weather isn’t all what it seems. There are so many different types of strange weather events that you’ve probably never heard of, including dry lightning. That’s right, you can sometimes see lightning strikes on a fully sunny day with no storm in your line of sight.
The weather is fascinating. While weather forecasters work hard to predict weather, the weather has a mind of its own. A 60% chance of rain can easily turn into 10%. We’ve all had those days when we prepped for a rainy day, only to be met with sunshine, heat, and not a cloud in the sky. This is all normal! But what about strange weather? It’s not all just sunshine, rain, tornadoes, and snow.
Even the harshest of storms are nothing to someone who is used to the weather. Actually, some people even dedicate their lives to chasing and recording storms. Storm chasing has been a popular and thrilling pastime and career since the 1970s. (Click here to learn about the most famous storm chasers in the U.S.)
To curate this list, 24/7 Tempo consulted various science and weather online sources for the most bizarre weather events. We decided to leave out major storms like regular tornadoes, hurricanes, thunderstorms, and snow storms since they aren’t uncommon. The websites we consulted for this listicle include the National Weather Service, Desert News, the Weather Channel, and BBC Science Focus Magazine.
Keep reading to discover 13 strange weather events you won’t believe, including blood rain and fire tornadoes.
Lightning Balls
Lightning balls/ball lightning are an uncommon weather event that leaves viewers speechless. It’s hard to imagine a ball of pulsing lightning just casually floating around in your neighborhood, but it happens. There is still a lot we don’t know about this strange weather phenomenon. The first possible recorded instance of a ball of lightning was in 1195. An English monk, Gervase of Canterbury, described a dark cloud that dropped a bright spherical shape.
Snow Devils
Snow devil is a freaky name for this strange weather event. It’s also known as a snownado, although it isn’t a tornado at all. Snow devils happen when the wind changes direction or temperature very fast against the surface, causing a vortex over the snow. This pushes snow up into a tornado-like shape. Although a little terrifying to see up close, it’s very rare and mostly harmless.
Blood Rain
Blood rain will make your jaw drop. Don’t let the name of this strange weather phenomenon fool you as blood doesn’t literally rain down. Instead, rain carrying small sand particles from deserts drops down, giving the appearance of blood. This orange-red rain is chilling to see. When the rainfall dries, it leaves a red dust that covers everything.
Fire Tornadoes
Like with snownados, fire tornadoes aren’t true tornadoes since they don’t form or touch a cloud base. Still, this terrifying and recently discovered weather event occurs when a whirl of wind and fire meet and create a vortex. This vortex sucks in debris and can worsen the fire. It happens worldwide but is more common in areas with wildfires. Fire whirls, also known as fire tornadoes, are dangerous. They cause a lot of damage. A fire whirl killed an estimated 38,000 people during the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.
Supercells
Have you ever seen a picture of a supercell? This strange but also picturesque weather event is a severe but uncommon storm known as a rotating thunderstorm. It’s categorized by a deep and constantly moving updraft. These storms occur in one isolated spot for about 2 to 4 hours. Supercells are so powerful they can affect weather 20 miles away.
Ice Fog
Fog alone is annoying, so imagine adding in chilly ice particles. Ice fog is made up of little ice particles that stay up in the air. Temperatures during an ice fog can reach as low as −40 °F. This is an uncommon weather event in most of the world. It mainly happens in interior and northern Alaska.
Dry Lightning
Dry lightning happens during dry thunderstorms. In these storms, we don’t typically see rain. Instead, the rain almost entirely evaporates before hitting the ground. This is a common but strange weather event you won’t believe happens. It’s also potentially dangerous since dry lightning mainly happens during the dry season. A dry lightning strike could cause a massive wildfire.
Fish Rain
You’ve probably heard of raining cats and dogs, but what about fish? A few years ago, you may have seen a headline of fish rain in Texas. This shocking and extremely weird weather event also happens in Honduras about four times a year. It’s such a significant event that it’s even celebrated with parades and festivals.
White Rainbows
White rainbows, also known as fog bows, are a delight to see. This unique weather phenomenon is like a rainbow, but with fog, not rain. The colors are light and muted, often appearing with a red outer edge. Interestingly, white rainbows can even appear at night. At night they are called lunar fog bows.
Frost Flowers
Frost flowers sound like something out of a video game, but they are real! This interesting weather event happens during really cold weather. When the weather is cold and dry, ice crystals develop on sea ice and frozen lakes that resemble flowers. Imagine encountering a meadow of stunning frostflowers.
Morning Glory Clouds
Also on our list is the Morning Glory Cloud. This stunning cloud shape happens all around the world. It’s a long, wavy cloud consisting of roll or arcus clouds. These clouds can reach as long as 620 miles! While this unique cloud can happen anywhere in the world, it’s more common and predictable over the southern part of the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Haboob
Have you ever seen a haboob? It’s a terrifying dust storm. Dust storms aren’t uncommon. They occur after a thunderstorm when cool air reaches the ground quickly, picking up dust from deserts. The dust becomes a thick wall that can be as wide as 62 miles. Dust storms are fast, with winds traveling as much as 62 mph.
Heat Bursts
Last but not least are heat bursts. Heat bursts are incredibly rare. During this strange weather phenomenon, bursts of heat randomly appear. The increase in temperature is sudden, in some cases even increasing as much as 140°F in just a few minutes. These heat bursts often happen at night, but there is still a lot we don’t know about it yet.
Are you interested in reading more about other jaw-dropping weather events? Check out the hurricanes that were so powerful they retired their names.