Skeptically thinking about neat weather phenomena
Take a gander at this list of neat weather phenomena (and while you’re there, leave a comment expressing your disgust at all of the images they’ve ripped off from other people). I especially like the Moon bow (hadn’t ever heard of it before, but it makes perfect sense), mammatus clouds (amazing!), and the fire raindbow (now that would make an excellent desktop picture). Admire this for the pictures, but don’t take it too seriously, as it was compiled by someone who doesn’t seem to have scientific training. There’s some conflation between “colored Moons” and Lunar eclipses going on, and a lack of an adequate description for either of the two.
And I’m still skeptical about non-aqueous rain and ball lightning. Ball lightning is well-known like most good urban legends, but it isn’t scientifically documented to the extent that you would expect if it was actually real (along the lines of Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster). Likewise, everyone’s heard stories about “that time it rained frogs in France”, but where is the scientific proof?
I can see frogs, fish, and other creatures being lifted into the air during weather phenomena with high wind speeds such as tornadoes and hurricanes, but normal rain is created by the slow evaporation of water from the surface which then forms in clouds and falls to Earth in tiny droplets. And the process of evaporation can’t even carry something as small as a molecule of salt up into the air to fall as rain, let alone whole animals. So I might believe that it could rain frogs because of a large storm, but then it wouldn’t just be raining frogs, but also all other sorts of debris picked up from the frogs’ habitat. It would mainly be raining branches, I would suspect.
April 19th, 2008 at 18:44
My favorite cloud formation was the time that we saw a pink cloud that very much looked like a cock, with a rainbow emerging from its tip. Without a doubt, the gayest cloud ever. Unfortunately, didn’t have a camera with us at the time.
Also, you should be aware that most raindrops have at their nuclei bacteria. That’s significantly larger than a molecule of salt. Those bacteria get back up there somehow; there clearly are transport mechanisms that lift microscopic lifeforms up into the air on a routine basis.
April 19th, 2008 at 19:24
I suspect the transport mechanism would have to be wind. If a strong wind is required to lift a frog, then only the slightest breeze might be required to lift a bacteria. I don’t really see any other possibilities. There are no known wing structures on the microscopic level (and none of the bacteria found as nuclei so far could fly), and there’s no way the bacteria could be lighter than air the way a helium balloon might. So it just has to be wind.
April 19th, 2008 at 22:11
I think you should remove the link to that site. The photgraphs are indeed pretty but the blog hasn’t even bothered crediting the photographers much less abiding by their copyright…. That kind of sloppiness is an anti-social behavior which shouldn’t be supported no matter how you feel about copyright law.
(I know the photographs are not by the author of the blog because I recognize the aurora image)
It’s that kind of sloppy behavior with respect to basic attribution, much less the full implications of copyright law, that is use to justify obnoxious DRM technology which hurts everyone, even those who are not irresponsible enough to need the nanny laws.
May 1st, 2008 at 01:43
yeah i think it is really embarrassing to the people of the site that they didn’t include the photographers names thats there hard work and
sacrifice, and hard work gone to waste because some person thought they could take it from them if i was the photographer and i see
that i would be pissed that my name was not on it
August 12th, 2008 at 14:56
its true that the pictures are amazing and beautiful but at the same time they leave so many questions to be answered… The authors are unknown. no proof is there to show that these pics were actually taken to explain some scientific phenomena or atleast prove their existence..
and what about this NON AQUOUS rain. how can animals like frogs or fishes be ever evaporated? anyone who knows about the simple concept of cloud formation will never ever accept this..
March 9th, 2009 at 17:17
30. Cedestra – April 19th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Sorry, I quickly edited the list before sending it in- thanks for correcting everything!
As crazy as some of these look, the only “fake” picture on here is the frog rain. I took that from a site that was poking fun of London weather, I believe. The mammatus clouds photo, as far as I know, was real. Perhaps extremely photoshopped, but real.
I myself have only seen about 7 of these, including the Aurora Borealis, twice. Once was just south of Iceland on a trip to France and the other was a fluke when it hit northwestern Massachusetts, where I was living at the time.
–> this is the author of that article’s comment. so as u can see, the raining fish? not real :D hope that helps.