Weather is the description of what happens on the surface of the earth as a result of the atmospheric conditions above. Weather influences a good deal of our lives and it can also be extremely dangerous. The study of weather and the atmosphere is called meteorology. While weather conditions can be extremely variable, there are incidents that far exceed the range of normal and some that scientists do not yet understand. Strange weather phenomena include bizarre cloud formations, unusual incidents of precipitation, fog, wind or temperature variation. There are recorded incidents of showers of animal, plant, and inorganic materials. Optical phenomena such as mirages, halos, sundogs, light pillars and dark bands are related to specific atmospheric conditions. Auroras and lightning are magnetic in nature. Anomalous light phenomena describes a broad array of unusual natural events including ball lightning and mysterious orbs or flashes. Some of these natural phenomena are misinterpreted as UFOs or ghosts. In the past, odd weather phenomena were interpreted as signs from the gods. Even today, people attribute unusual storms or atmospheric events as directed by a higher power. The Sourcebook Project, maintained by William Corliss, a retired scientist, represents all these strange events with a scientific viewpoint and is a huge, organized collection of anomalous weather and other types of odd natural phenomena.
Sharon Hill (Geologist) |
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