Natural Phenomena That Will Leave You Blinking

Bright Side

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Transcript

00:00:00You're in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, one of the driest places on Earth.

00:00:06But this desert has a beautiful secret.

00:00:09Every 3 to 5 years, flowers pop up out of nowhere.

00:00:12It's so famous, it's also called the flowering desert.

00:00:16Seeds lie around in the ground just waiting for some rain.

00:00:20When the desert gets enough water, about 200 types of flowers sprout up.

00:00:25The yellow sands of the Atacama turn purple, white, green, and even pink.

00:00:30Another mystical phenomenon that can be seen in the desert is called a sand waterfall.

00:00:36When the wind brings a lot of sand to the edge of the canyon, it begins to fall down.

00:00:41Now amplify this effect 100 times, and you get a sand waterfall in Saudi Arabia.

00:00:47It really is like Niagara Falls, only there's not a drop of water.

00:00:51The locals say this phenomenon warns of an impending sandstorm.

00:00:56Fairy rings, also known as elf rings or pixie rings, are mysterious circles of mushrooms

00:01:02that appear in grasslands and forested areas.

00:01:05There's a lot of debate about why these fairy rings form a nearly perfect circle.

00:01:10Some superstitions claim that fairy dances would burn the ground, causing mushrooms to

00:01:15rapidly grow.

00:01:17In southern India, between July and September 2001, people witnessed one of the strangest

00:01:23weather phenomena in recorded history.

00:01:26The rain was red.

00:01:28What many would've thought to be a typical rainstorm left them shocked.

00:01:33The color was bright enough to stain clothes.

00:01:35There were other colors too, such as green, yellow, brown, and even black.

00:01:40In the middle of a monsoon, red rain started to fall, and so did periodically for several

00:01:45weeks.

00:01:46Many researchers have found this unusual rain is stained either by dust or algae, so don't

00:01:52try to catch any on your tongue.

00:01:54Scientists aren't entirely sure how the algae got all the way up there.

00:01:58This does make events like this a little unsettling.

00:02:03People who live in rural central Norway, over the Hestalen Valley, can often witness floating

00:02:08lights of white, yellow, and red cross the sky.

00:02:12The lights appear both at day and night, and once back in the 80s, ahem, the 1980s,

00:02:18they were spotted 15 to 20 times in a single week.

00:02:21The Hestalen lights can last just a few seconds, but sometimes they can last more than an hour.

00:02:28The lights move, seeming to float or even sway around.

00:02:32Some scientists believe that the reason for these lights is due to ionized iron dust.

00:02:37Others say it's a combination that includes sodium, oxygen, and hydrogen.

00:02:42Many people claim they're just misidentified aircrafts.

00:02:46Norway!

00:02:47Snow doughnuts are one of the rarest meteorological sights to see, with perfect weather conditions

00:02:52needed just to create them.

00:02:54Found in any snow-covered mountain area, like the Rocky Mountains, the wind, temperature,

00:02:59snow, ice, and moisture all have to work together for us to see these phenomenal rings.

00:03:05A thin layer of wet snow on the ground.

00:03:08Under that layer, ice or powdered snow.

00:03:11And a strong enough breeze to roll the doughnut down a hill, just like a snowball.

00:03:17Once it stops rolling, it can be the size of a baseball or as large as a car tire.

00:03:22It all depends on how strong the wind is.

00:03:24A newly formed snow doughnut won't stay around for very long, so hurry up with that

00:03:29camera and watch your head!

00:03:32Can you believe there's another place on Earth with its own ecosystem and atmosphere,

00:03:36similar to another planet?

00:03:38Well, start believing!

00:03:40Smoviel Cave, located in southeastern Romania, remained closed in complete darkness for a

00:03:46whopping 5.5 million years.

00:03:48It wasn't until workers discovered the cave, when they were looking for a place to build,

00:03:53that anyone learned about it.

00:03:55Scientists carved out an opening to the cave and found that a completely sustained ecosystem

00:04:00was thriving inside.

00:04:02As a pathway was carved through the rock past numerous tunnels, scientists found a lake

00:04:07of sulfuric water that stank like rotten eggs.

00:04:11The air was filled with hydrogen sulfide and had 100 times more carbon dioxide than Earth's

00:04:16atmosphere contains.

00:04:18Needless to say, this air is completely toxic.

00:04:21What's even crazier is that a whole ecosystem has been existing in this cave, with 33 species

00:04:27that can't be found anywhere else on Earth.

00:04:30This cave gives us a glimpse of what could possibly exist on other planets with completely

00:04:35different atmospheres.

00:04:37How it managed to exist on Earth all this time without anyone knowing is rather unbelievable,

00:04:43isn't it?

00:04:44Now, check these trees out.

00:04:46They're called Indian rubber trees.

00:04:48Their strong roots grow not underground, but on the surface.

00:04:52With the help of special frames and fasteners, people have learned to control how these roots

00:04:57grow.

00:04:58Let's say a tree is next to a small pit.

00:05:00You need to make a bridge from one end of this pit to the other.

00:05:04You direct the growing tree roots in the needed direction.

00:05:08Over time, the roots penetrate the ground and strengthen under endless downpours.

00:05:13It takes about 15 years to create one bridge.

00:05:17Here's another amazing tree called the Tree of Life.

00:05:20It grows in Bahrain's desert.

00:05:22The tree has been standing on top of this sandy hill for more than 400 years, surrounded

00:05:27by miles of sand.

00:05:28It's extremely hot here, and there's no moisture.

00:05:32Despite this, the tree has green leaves, and it continues to grow.

00:05:36So far, scientists haven't figured out yet how the tree gets moisture and nutrients.

00:05:41There are only places with oil deposits around.

00:05:45Locals think the tree is sacred.

00:05:47After all, it demonstrates the magic of life and the power of nature.

00:05:51Some experts are sure it's all about the roots.

00:05:54They go so deep that they can reach underground sources of water.

00:05:59So there you are.

00:06:01You've been driving for hours through the night.

00:06:03You didn't have any chance to sleep, so your mind is hanging by a thread.

00:06:08You stop the car and go out to stretch your limbs.

00:06:11And then you look up into the sky and see a beautiful sunrise.

00:06:15Whoa, wait, there are three suns in the sky.

00:06:19You rub your eyes, but nope, there are still three bright stars in the sky.

00:06:24No, our home star hasn't been torn into three pieces, nor has it been visited by two

00:06:29other stars.

00:06:31This is called a sun dog.

00:06:33It occurs mostly during severe frosts.

00:06:36Small ice crystals in the sky bend the light.

00:06:39As a result, you may see three bright spots in the sky instead of just one.

00:06:43This phenomenon is officially called a halo.

00:06:46Usually it's just a circle around the sun.

00:06:49You can even see a halo at night, too.

00:06:51Just look at a street lamp, and you'll see a bright circle around it.

00:06:55Sometimes, a halo can take on a fancier shape.

00:06:58If there's a lot of ice in the air, the light is warped even more.

00:07:02Just like in a room with a dozen mirrors.

00:07:05Then the halo can take on the shape of a human eye.

00:07:09Because of this phenomenon, a false dawn can also occur.

00:07:13While you're looking at the horizon, the dawn begins, and the edge of the sun appears.

00:07:18A little bit more, and wait, the sun starts to just dissolve in the sky.

00:07:24After a few moments, it's dark again.

00:07:27And only a minute later, the real sun shows its face.

00:07:31It was the same light curvature effect you saw before with the three suns.

00:07:35Only now, the light is curved vertically, not horizontally.

00:07:39And instead of the real sun, its reflection in ice crystals in the sky appeared.

00:07:44But the sunrise with three stars on the horizon is actually real.

00:07:49Not on Earth, though, but 340 light-years away.

00:07:53There's a star system at the center of which lurks a star almost twice the size of the

00:07:58sun.

00:07:59And there are two smaller stars orbiting around this giant.

00:08:02The strange world has a planet too.

00:08:05Sunsets and dawns there really happen with three stars.

00:08:09If you brought your significant other to a park bench to watch a sunset here, your date

00:08:14would go just fine.

00:08:16Whatever that means.

00:08:18And since we're talking about the most baffling natural phenomenon, it would be a crime not

00:08:23to mention snow in a desert.

00:08:25Yep, in the winter of 2018, the inhabitants of the Sahara Desert, one of the driest and

00:08:31hottest places on this planet, woke up to discover a thick blanket of snow covering

00:08:36the sand.

00:08:37In some places, the layer of snow enveloping the dunes reached a staggering 15 inches.

00:08:43Meteorologists, however, had an explanation for this exciting phenomenon.

00:08:48They stated that cold pools of air, combined with the precipitation from the most recent

00:08:53storm, resulted in a snowfall instead of rain.

00:08:57So what do you do in that case?

00:08:58Build snow camels?

00:08:59Hmm, one hump or two.

00:09:02Ah, you're on the grass, looking up at the blue sky, enjoying some singing birds and

00:09:09catching some rays.

00:09:11You watch different shaped clouds soaring slowly, high up in the air.

00:09:15Suddenly, you hear a powerful loud rumble coming from far away.

00:09:20You get up and notice a gigantic thick cloud ahead.

00:09:24But it's not the size that scares you, it's the shape.

00:09:27The cloud looks like a skull.

00:09:29Don't worry, it doesn't mean anything bad's gonna happen.

00:09:32Anyway, it's not even a cloud.

00:09:35A few years ago, a skull formed out of thick smoke over Mount Vesuvius in Italy.

00:09:41That's the same volcano that erased the ancient city of Pompeii from the face of the

00:09:45Earth.

00:09:46Of course, back then, many people were afraid that the volcano would erupt again.

00:09:51Luckily for everyone, the volcano's still in a deep sleep.

00:09:56It was just a nearby forest fire that caused the famous skull cloud.

00:10:00But the locals weren't so sure.

00:10:02Some thought that the fire and the skull were set on purpose.

00:10:06Wouldn't be the first time.

00:10:09Centralia, Pennsylvania.

00:10:11Population, well, just look around.

00:10:14It's a little scary.

00:10:15Bare trees, no animals, no people.

00:10:18All the buildings are empty.

00:10:20Roads are all cracked and strewn with gravel.

00:10:22No cars, obviously.

00:10:24Thick smoke everywhere.

00:10:26This town's been burning for more than 50 years.

00:10:29Centralia used to be a mining town.

00:10:31One of its coal mines was abandoned, and locals used it as a dump for their trash.

00:10:36Then, according to most people, the city decided to get rid of the trash in the usual way – by

00:10:42burning it.

00:10:43The plan was a major failure.

00:10:45Hmm, let's see what could have possibly gone wrong here.

00:10:49The trash fire got deep into the mine's tunnels, ignited the coal that's still down

00:10:54there, and has been burning steadily ever since.

00:10:57The level of carbon dioxide shot up, and they had to shut down the other mines nearby for

00:11:02safety.

00:11:03No one could stop the fire, and the underground flames spread beneath the city.

00:11:09The roads began to warm up, the soil went sour, and the streets slowly filled with smoke

00:11:14and smog.

00:11:15In 2017, there were only 5 people living there.

00:11:20Welcome to Abraham Lake in Canada.

00:11:23It's completely frozen.

00:11:24You step onto the transparent ice and look down at what lies beneath.

00:11:29No fish, just some mysterious frozen bubbles.

00:11:33They look like small clouds frozen in ice, or jellyfish who forgot to pack a winter jacket.

00:11:38There are thousands of these little bubbles made up of methane.

00:11:42But don't try to dig a hole in the ice to touch it.

00:11:46Methane is highly flammable.

00:11:47It's created by methane-producing bacteria that eats leaves, grass, insects, and any

00:11:53other organic stuff that gets into the lake.

00:11:56When the methane touches the frozen water, it turns into tens of thousands of frozen

00:12:00little balls.

00:12:02When the ice melts, they burst open and sizzle.

00:12:05If you lit a match over them at just the right moment, the lake would look kind of

00:12:09like an erupting volcano.

00:12:12Similar lakes can be found near some shores of the Arctic Ocean.

00:12:15There, the size of the bubbles can reach several times the size of hot air balloons.

00:12:20Beautiful for sure, but not exactly safe.

00:12:24The next shocking lake is in Indonesia, on the island of Java.

00:12:29You come to a majestic volcano overgrown with grass and trees.

00:12:33The volcano seems to be asleep, but smoke is pouring out of it.

00:12:38You of course climb to the summit.

00:12:39Exhausted, tired, sweaty, you're ready to cool off.

00:12:43Nice work, you made it to the top!

00:12:45You look into the mouth of the volcano.

00:12:48No boiling lava, just a beautiful bright turquoise lake down there.

00:12:53It looks like an oasis.

00:12:55Perfect time for a refreshing dip.

00:12:57You run down and get ready to jump in.

00:13:00But that's not water, that's acid!

00:13:03Sulfurous gases get into the lake from under the volcano.

00:13:07The lake itself is full of metals.

00:13:09When the gases touch them, they form that beautiful turquoise water, I mean acid.

00:13:15Better head back to the nearest village, rest, and come back at night when it's cooling.

00:13:20In the dark, the lake seems to grow.

00:13:23Right above it, you see light-filled exploding little clouds.

00:13:27The sulfurous gases rise out of the lake, combine with the air, and flash bright blue.

00:13:33Still, don't get too close!

00:13:36Up in the sky, underground, volcanoes, lakes?

00:13:41Time to head out to sea!

00:13:43You get on a yacht and sail off.

00:13:45It doesn't matter where, this next one happens all over the world.

00:13:49So the sea is crystal clear and calm, there's no wind in your sails.

00:13:54Everything is so peaceful…

00:13:56Wait, what's that?

00:13:58You hear a loud, loud noise.

00:14:00Two seconds later, a huge wave, way taller than your mast, rises from the calm sea and

00:14:06hits your yacht.

00:14:08The ship manages to stay upright, and the huge wave disappears.

00:14:12You just survived the attack of a rogue wave!

00:14:16Some scientists think it happens when the surface sea current smashes into a strong

00:14:20headwind.

00:14:21Others say it happens when warm and cold currents come up against each other.

00:14:26Another popular theory is wave interference, where small waves team up to form one monster

00:14:31one.

00:14:32Under certain conditions, waves get a sort of superpower.

00:14:36Out of all the waves in the area, there'll be one which sucks the energy out of all the

00:14:41others.

00:14:42When it's full, the wave spits it all out.

00:14:45Maybe that's why the wave's so strong, but only lasts an instant.

00:14:50What about clouds?

00:14:51Scary?

00:14:52Well, they can be.

00:14:54If they're huge thunderclouds, walls of gray and black blocking out the sun, the moon,

00:14:59and the stars.

00:15:00First, you're relaxing in your backyard, then you see thunderclouds, then you get thunderstorms,

00:15:06hail, floods, and even tornadoes.

00:15:09They're easy to spot thanks to their epic appearance.

00:15:12Thick, heavy, and dark.

00:15:15They can even sparkle inside because of lightning.

00:15:18That's one scary-looking cloud.

00:15:20But before you run away, let's see how it forms.

00:15:24Clouds are like rollercoasters.

00:15:26Imagine you're a small drop of water, hanging out with your friends in the ocean, waiting

00:15:30in line for the brand-new ride that just opened up.

00:15:33It's time!

00:15:34You strap in.

00:15:36Nothing happens.

00:15:37Then you feel it.

00:15:39The rollercoaster starts to go up, up, up!

00:15:42You can see all your droplet friends down there, they're so small!

00:15:46You keep rising, just waiting for the big whoosh.

00:15:49But nothing happens.

00:15:51Then you're so high up that you're in the clouds.

00:15:54It's not so scary up here, and there are loads of your friends.

00:15:58Nice!

00:15:59It's starting to get cold.

00:16:01You look around, it's happening to everyone.

00:16:04You're being turned into beautiful ice crystals, so shiny and pretty.

00:16:08The clouds filling up, getting kind of cramped with all those other water droplets.

00:16:13Still, what a peaceful, enjoyable…

00:16:16Wow!

00:16:17The ride kicks back in, and you start to free-fall.

00:16:20Slowly at first, then faster and faster, thousands of your fellow drops falling back to Earth,

00:16:26some holding on tight to the handrail, some laughing and waving their hands in the air.

00:16:30Woo-hoo!

00:16:31And splash!

00:16:32Still, I like the lightning ride better.

00:16:35That's one where they strap you in, you ride up, and then you play bumper cars way

00:16:40up in the clouds.

00:16:42The more times you bump into another water droplet, the more lightning you create.

00:16:47Now, not all lightning happens inside clouds.

00:16:50There's a rare phenomenon called a dirty thunderstorm.

00:16:54The lightning happens above a volcano, the most famous is in Japan.

00:16:58It erupts almost every day and spits black clouds high into the air.

00:17:03So it's super scary volcano clouds, plus lightning!

00:17:08Regular lightning happens during a storm when ice crystals bump into each other.

00:17:13In a dirty thunderstorm, bits of volcanic ash collide, create friction, and spark up

00:17:18the sky.

00:17:20Okay, better finish the journey with something safe and beautiful.

00:17:24No more cloud roller coasters, please!

00:17:27You're in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, one of the driest places on Earth.

00:17:32But this desert has a beautiful secret.

00:17:35Every 3 to 5 years, flowers pop up out of nowhere.

00:17:39It's so famous, it's also called the flowering desert.

00:17:43Seeds lie around in the ground, just waiting for some rain.

00:17:47When the desert gets enough water, about 200 types of flowers sprout up.

00:17:52The yellow sands of the Atacama turn purple, white, green, and pink.

00:17:59This happened in June 2009.

00:18:02People in certain areas in Japan left their homes after a heavy downpour, only to find

00:18:07fish, frogs, and tadpoles everywhere.

00:18:10Fields, roads, lawns, rooftops were littered with these aquatic creatures.

00:18:17One man was shocked to see 13 carp on and around his truck.

00:18:21Apparently, he stopped to count them.

00:18:23No one knows for sure where the bizarre rain came from, but the most popular theory claims

00:18:29that a powerful water spout picked up all these creatures, then it carried them through

00:18:33the upper atmosphere and dropped the animals on the unsuspecting people below.

00:18:40Shelf clouds look like something from a sci-fi movie.

00:18:43They form when warm and moist air gets caught in a thunderstorm updraft.

00:18:48These ominous clouds most often mean a storm is coming.

00:18:52Breathtaking rainbow clouds appear on top of cotton-like puffy clouds after thunderstorms.

00:18:59The puffy clouds are low-altitude ones.

00:19:01They usually hover at a height of around 6,000 feet.

00:19:05When the water vapor they contain condenses, the resulting droplets act like prisms.

00:19:11This forms multicolored caps over the clouds.

00:19:15Morning glory clouds are extremely rare.

00:19:18They look like massive tubes stretching across the sky.

00:19:21They can snake for more than 600 miles, sitting relatively low.

00:19:26Most researchers agree that these clouds appear when an updraft squeezes through the cloud.

00:19:32This creates the signature rolling appearance.

00:19:35The cool air at the back of the cloud makes it sink downward.

00:19:39The best, but not the only place to see morning glory is Australia's Gulf of Carpentaria.

00:19:45If you decide to travel there to see these clouds, choose a period from late September

00:19:50to early November.

00:19:53It was 2012 when the sky turned first ominous dark, then yellow.

00:19:59After that, blue gelatinous balls started to fall to the ground.

00:20:03A man from the UK found these balls outside during a hailstorm.

00:20:08He was walking to his garage when he spotted something unusually bright among the whitish

00:20:12hailstones.

00:20:14When researchers examined this jelly rain, they found out the balls were made from the

00:20:18substance used in diapers or potting soil.

00:20:22It's still unclear whether the balls fell from the sky, or maybe the melting ice made

00:20:29a few already existing crystals expand in the blink of an eye.

00:20:35Huge white lumps over your head are called mammatus clouds.

00:20:39They can make you believe the sky is falling.

00:20:42Most clouds form when the air rises into the atmosphere, but not mammatus ones.

00:20:47They appear when moist and cool air goes down and mixes with dry air.

00:20:52The result?

00:20:53Unique puffed rice clouds.

00:20:56By the way, if you spot this phenomenon, bad weather is just around the corner.

00:21:03Colorful nacreous clouds occur extremely high in the atmosphere, I mean twice as high as

00:21:08a commercial airplane's cruising altitude.

00:21:11The air at such heights is extremely dry and cold.

00:21:15Ice crystals in nacreous clouds are much smaller than those that form more common clouds.

00:21:21They scatter light in a different way.

00:21:23And this gives the clouds their mother-of-pearl appearance.

00:21:28Blood rain looks more terrifying than any horror movie.

00:21:32But in reality, there's nothing strange or unnatural about this weather phenomenon.

00:21:37People have known about such scarlet-tinted rains since the time of ancient Rome.

00:21:43Sometimes, powerful winds lift red dust into the atmosphere and carry it far, far away

00:21:48to another galaxy.

00:21:51In the end, this dust gets mixed with clouds, which colors the rain.

00:21:56By the way, dust from coal mines can make the rain black.

00:22:00Pollen is responsible for yellow rains.

00:22:03And some other kinds of dust can turn the rainwater white.

00:22:08In Australia, it sometimes rains spiders.

00:22:11That's because these creatures can balloon.

00:22:13That's a highly unusual way of traveling.

00:22:16A spider climbs to the very top of a tall tree or shrub.

00:22:21And then it spins several strands of silk.

00:22:24These strands help the spider to be carried away by the wind.

00:22:28It's not easy to spot ballooning.

00:22:30But sometimes, if the weather is especially damp and unpleasant, mass ballooning happens.

00:22:36And then you can't help but pay attention.

00:22:39Thousands of spiders set off on a journey to find another place with better conditions.

00:22:44It may seem like it's snowing outside.

00:22:47But no, those are spiders drifting down to the ground.

00:22:51Ever see huge round disks in the sky?

00:22:54Most likely, those were lenticular clouds.

00:22:58They usually form over large and high places, like mountains or hills.

00:23:02When strong winds bump into some barrier, this creates an air wave.

00:23:07The air kind of wraps around the obstacle.

00:23:09And the higher the barrier is, the colder the air that's rising over it becomes.

00:23:14At some point, the moisture it contains turns into water droplets.

00:23:18And they form the unusual clouds.

00:23:21Lenticular clouds can look like waves, a pizza, or even a stack of pancakes.

00:23:26How yummy!

00:23:28Volcanic tornadoes are possibly one of the most terrifying natural phenomena.

00:23:33When a volcano erupts, it spews red-hot rock and ash high into the air.

00:23:38As for solid lava pieces and hot gases, they travel down the volcano's slope.

00:23:44When this flow moves down, some of the trapped gases begin to rise and spin at the same time.

00:23:50They get squeezed by the surrounding air, which makes them spin faster and faster.

00:23:55That's how a volcanic tornado gets born.

00:23:58Luckily, this phenomenon has a very short lifespan.

00:24:02On March 19, 2018, the inhabitants of Alabama had to run for their lives.

00:24:08Otherwise, they would've been hit by huge chunks of ice falling from the sky.

00:24:13It was the infamous hailstorm that caused millions of dollars worth of damage.

00:24:18After the hailstorm, the area looked gloomy.

00:24:20Broken shop windows, smashed car windshields, busted billboards, holes in the roofs.

00:24:26At least, researchers got excited when they found a hailstone near the town of Cullman.

00:24:32This softball-sized monster was more than 5 inches across.

00:24:36No wonder it set a new state record.

00:24:39Cylindrical snow donuts occur when a wind gust decides to make a snowball.

00:24:45It starts to roll some snow across a snowy area.

00:24:48If it were a real snowball, it would eventually become too heavy for the wind to move.

00:24:53But the snow donut's center is hollowed out.

00:24:56This happens because its inner layer is too thin and is blown away when the donut is formed.

00:25:01This makes it lighter than a snowball, and that's why it also rolls farther.

00:25:06Unfortunately, you just can't go and find snow donuts.

00:25:09They're rare because they need very precise conditions to appear.

00:25:15Moonbows are a much rarer phenomenon than rainbows.

00:25:18They're caused by moonlight rather than direct sunlight and occur only when the moon

00:25:23is near full.

00:25:25Moonbows are dim and often seem to be white.

00:25:28But it's just an illusion.

00:25:30The human eye is just not sensitive enough to catch all the colors.

00:25:34Lightning balls are small floating spheres of light.

00:25:37They can be orange, yellow, or even red.

00:25:40Sometimes lightning balls descend from the sky.

00:25:43In other cases, they appear out of nowhere, hovering several feet above the ground.

00:25:48They don't emit any heat or produce very little sound.

00:25:52Lightning balls can bounce off objects.

00:25:54If they come across something electrical, like a TV, they usually disappear with a quiet

00:25:59pop, leaving behind the smell of sulfur.

00:26:02But lightning balls can also start fires or explode.

00:26:07Scientists believe lightning balls might be connected with thunderstorms, but there's

00:26:11no solid proof yet.

00:26:14Fogbows are almost white, pale blue on the inside, and faint red on the outside.

00:26:20You have higher chances of seeing a fogbow over the cold sea or ocean when warm air comes

00:26:26into contact with much colder air.

00:26:28This phenomenon also occurs when the sun is bright, and the fog is thin enough for

00:26:33the light to get through.

00:26:35Pele's hair is thin lava threads.

00:26:38They look golden and pretty, but don't even think about picking them up.

00:26:42Yeah, they can harm you.

00:26:44The wind sometimes catches small droplets of lava coming from active volcanoes.

00:26:49These droplets get carried miles away from the vent.

00:26:52They get stretched into super-thin glass wires, also called hair lava.

00:26:58Some strands can be as long as 6 feet!

00:27:01In March 2018, those who looked up in the sky in northern Nevada saw one of the rarest

00:27:07and most bizarre clouds ever.

00:27:10It was a horseshoe cloud.

00:27:12Such a vortex happens when a flat cloud travels over a column of warm, rising air.

00:27:18This air not only gives the cloud its impressive shape, but also adds some spin to its movement.

00:27:24You've gotta be quick!

00:27:26Horseshoe clouds are very fleeting and usually last for only several minutes.

00:27:31Frost flowers bloom on young sea ice in the Arctic Ocean or on thin lake ice.

00:27:36They're fragile and delicate ice crystals.

00:27:39These structures grow during temperature changes.

00:27:42They draw moisture from the ice surface and rise, capturing bacteria and salt.

00:27:48You can find frost flowers in Antarctica too.

00:27:51Wherever these crystals grow, people know, disappointingly, very little about them.

00:27:56Still, they're awfully pretty!

00:28:00Have you ever wondered about the longest time it rained non-stop?

00:28:04Even an hour of rain could be a big deal if you're hanging out in a dry spot like the

00:28:08Atacama Desert in South America.

00:28:11It can set a record for that place.

00:28:13But in super rainy spots like the Amazon rainforest, having 40 days of rain in a row might not

00:28:19even turn heads.

00:28:21Interestingly, we only have rainfall records where people live and keep track.

00:28:25Many towns and cities skip the whole rain data collection thing.

00:28:29Plus, there are so many places on Earth where nobody lives, like rainforests or the open

00:28:34ocean, so our rainfall knowledge is a bit patchy.

00:28:39If we were to talk about records, Hawaii has a couple.

00:28:42People there have some seriously long rainy days, especially on islands where winds come

00:28:47from the mountains.

00:28:49From 1939 to 40, they recorded 331 days in a row with measurable rainfall.

00:28:56If you're a person who likes to watch the rain at home with a cup of tea, this might

00:29:00sound ideal to you.

00:29:01But we need to see the sun at least occasionally.

00:29:06Getting some sun is good for your body and soul.

00:29:08Obviously, you get vitamin D. Just 5-15 minutes of sunlight a few times a week can make a

00:29:14real difference.

00:29:15And have you ever heard the phrase, sunny disposition?

00:29:19Researchers found that people feel down when there's not much sun around.

00:29:23Sunny days make us happier.

00:29:25Sunshine boosts your serotonin, which fights off bad moods.

00:29:29That sunny serotonin isn't just for your mood, it also helps you sleep.

00:29:34And it's also a heart assistant.

00:29:36When the sun hits your skin, your body releases something called nitric oxide, which chills

00:29:41out your blood pressure.

00:29:43Healthy blood pressure means a healthier heart.

00:29:46Now go tell that to the people who had to go through 881 consecutive days of rain.

00:29:51Yep, the record was set almost 3 full years of rain.

00:29:56This happened from 1913 to 1916 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

00:30:01It rained like there was no tomorrow, because the region is a tropical rainforest.

00:30:06How do clouds make rain?

00:30:08Rain happens when damp air goes up into the sky and gets a bit chilly.

00:30:13As this air cools down, tiny water vapor molecules huddle up, forming super small droplets that

00:30:19look like a fluffy cloud team.

00:30:22Inside these clouds, things get playful.

00:30:24The air moving around can sometimes make these droplets bump into one another and get bigger.

00:30:30Then they can turn into ice crystals high up in the clouds where it's chilly.

00:30:34These little ice buddies get heavy enough to take a tumble down, melting in the rain

00:30:39on the way to the ground.

00:30:41Now there isn't just one type of rain.

00:30:44Raindrops can come from all kinds of storms.

00:30:47Thunderstorms show up, make a splash, and then they're out.

00:30:50They can dump a ton of rain in no time.

00:30:53Other storms, like winter storms, are more laid back.

00:30:56They stick around for days and dish out gentle rain or even snow if it's cold enough.

00:31:01Usually, the weather switches between moods.

00:31:04It's nature's way of balancing things out.

00:31:07After stormy weather, the sun comes out, the air dries up, and we get to enjoy some clear

00:31:12skies.

00:31:13But things can get interesting if you're in a place with mountains near the ocean.

00:31:17When moist air hits the mountains, it's forced to climb over them, creating rainfall lasting

00:31:23sometimes for weeks.

00:31:25What if I told you there was a time on Earth when rain fell continuously for 2 million

00:31:30years and completely reshaped the planet's destiny?

00:31:34At the end of the Permian Era, around 234 million years ago, I wasn't around then,

00:31:39but I read about it, the Triassic Period began, marked by the onset of an extended period

00:31:45of rainfall.

00:31:46This phenomenon is now called the Carnian Pluvial Event.

00:31:50Well, that's what they decided to call it.

00:31:53Recent studies supported by evidence suggest that it didn't reshape the planet in that

00:31:57sense and that it was triggered by coal combustion.

00:32:01The rain wasn't continuous either.

00:32:03So we just debunked a myth here, woohoo!

00:32:07Next we have columnar jointing.

00:32:09This is the fancy term for groove patterns that form in lava flows, silts, dikes, and

00:32:15other rocky stuff.

00:32:17These lava creations come in all shapes and sizes.

00:32:21Most are seen as straight, parallel columns.

00:32:23Some have curves and varying widths.

00:32:25They can be as high as 1,181 inches.

00:32:30I'll save you the math, it's roughly 98 feet.

00:32:35The columns are formed by pressure and the cooling process.

00:32:39As lava becomes cooler, it shrinks and forms cracks.

00:32:43Once a crack starts, the lava moves around.

00:32:46These cracks expand to the surface of the flow.

00:32:49Water sneaks into the cooling lava, making it chill down fast starting from the surface,

00:32:54leaving its mark in those patterns.

00:32:56The Sears Clouds Postpile in California is a must-visit place if you want to see columnar

00:33:01jointing.

00:33:02But hey, they're found all around the world.

00:33:06Let's raise our heads to the sky to see something magical.

00:33:09Fire rainbows, also known as circumhorizontal arcs, look like flames dancing above the clouds.

00:33:16To see these eye-catching arcs, you need a special cloud type called Sears clouds and

00:33:21the sun at least 58 degrees high in the sky.

00:33:24It's a VIP collaboration between sunlight and clouds.

00:33:28Let's break it down further.

00:33:30Take London, for instance.

00:33:31It's around 51 degrees north.

00:33:33Now, sorry Londoners, no fire rainbows for you!

00:33:39Now we move to deep waters to see underwater crop circles.

00:33:43These are giant circular patterns found in 1995 near the shores of southern Japan.

00:33:49Locals were baffled.

00:33:50They dubbed them mystery circles, as if the ocean had a secret talent for sand art.

00:33:55The mystery was solved in 2011.

00:33:58The unlikely artist turned out to be a tiny pufferfish, just 5 inches long.

00:34:03The researchers found out that males were on a mission, spending a solid 7 to 9 days

00:34:09building their circles by swimming in and out and using their fins to carve valleys

00:34:13into the sandy floor.

00:34:15They decorate the peaks of their creations with bits of shells and corals, turning their

00:34:20sandy canvases into masterpieces.

00:34:22Okay, they don't do it for the sake of art.

00:34:25The curious circles have a purpose.

00:34:27The sandy center of the circle serves as a nest.

00:34:31Male swimming moves mix things up, getting sand particles just where they need to be.

00:34:36When a lady pufferfish swims by, the male twirls and dances, swirling sand around.

00:34:42If she is impressed and thinks he is the one, she lays her eggs in the sandy heart of the

00:34:47circle.

00:34:49There you go, another happy ending!

00:34:52Now let's look at frost flowers.

00:34:54You might have seen thin sheets of ice that look like delicate petals and sometimes pop

00:34:59up from the stems of plants.

00:35:01The ice is about as thick as a credit card.

00:35:04It forms when the weather is cold outside.

00:35:06The soil is damp but not frozen, as well as plant stems.

00:35:11Not all plants produce these frost flowers, and the conditions must be just right.

00:35:16Here's how it happens.

00:35:17The water inside a plant's stem gets pulled up from the ground.

00:35:21When it freezes, it expands and cracks the stem vertically.

00:35:25As it hits the chilly air, it turns into ice.

00:35:29As more water gets pulled up through the crack, it keeps pushing out super thin layers of

00:35:33ice.

00:35:34Whether a frost flower looks like a narrow ribbon or a wider one depends on the length

00:35:39of the crack.

00:35:40And the way it curls and shapes itself into these petals is random, or the reason might

00:35:45lie in the difference in friction along the sides of the crack.

00:35:48These frost flowers are unique and delicate, and they don't last long.

00:35:52They melt or just disappear quickly.

00:35:55To spot them, keep an eye out for tall grass, especially in places that don't get mowed

00:36:00much.

00:36:01Pay attention to purple ironweed, blackberries, and wing stems.

00:36:14The Batindae Tsunami, Indonesia An undersea earthquake starts in the morning.

00:36:19Its tremors cause a series of tsunami waves.

00:36:22The largest reaches the height of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

00:36:27Unzen volcano megatsunami A powerful volcanic eruption triggers a landslide

00:36:33from a 4,000-year-old lava dome.

00:36:35It sweeps through the city of Shimabara and reaches the sea, setting off a megatsunami.

00:36:41The Vagent Dam megatsunami, Italy A landslide drags 9 billion cubic feet of

00:36:48forest, soil, and rock into the lake.

00:36:50A dark wall of water covers the sky over a tiny village at the bottom of the Vagent Dam.

00:36:56Then, with a deafening roar, the wave overtops the edge of the dam, taking out everything

00:37:02in its path.

00:37:04Mount St. Helens megatsunami, USA As the volcano erupts, the upper 1,500 feet

00:37:11of Mount St. Helens collapses into a massive landslide.

00:37:15Part of this avalanche plunges down into nearby Spirit Lake, which splashes the lake waters

00:37:21into a series of waves almost as tall as the Eiffel Tower.

00:37:25Alaska's Latuya Bay tsunami A landslide caused by an earthquake creates

00:37:30a mega-wave.

00:37:31It surges over the headland and washes away trees, plants, and soil down to bedrock.

00:37:37Molokai, Hawaii A third of the East Molokai volcano caves

00:37:42in and collapses into the Pacific Ocean.

00:37:45This causes a tsunami the size of the second-tallest building in the world, Shanghai Tower.

00:37:50The waves reach Mexico and California.

00:37:54The Yucatan asteroid tsunami The asteroid, which is rumored to have wiped

00:37:58out dinosaurs, strikes the Yucatan Peninsula.

00:38:02It creates a mega-tsunami, the largest in Earth's history.

00:38:06The first wave's almost twice bigger than the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.

00:38:14Hurricane Mitch Mitch forms in the western Caribbean Sea.

00:38:18Soon it strengthens to become the 8th most powerful Atlantic hurricane ever.

00:38:23The storm pours 4 inches of rain per hour for two days in Honduras.

00:38:27It causes terrible mudslides and floods.

00:38:31Hurricane Alan Rare and extremely powerful, the storm is

00:38:35one of the few to reach Category 5, the highest possible.

00:38:39It causes more than $2 billion in damage.

00:38:42The Great Hurricane After tearing down Barbados, the storm moves

00:38:47on.

00:38:48It strips the bark off the trees growing on Martinique and St. Lucia and travels further.

00:38:53This horrific natural disaster lasts for 6 days.

00:38:57Hurricane Dorian It's the most powerful tropical cyclone

00:39:01to hit the Bahamas.

00:39:02The hurricane flattens most of the structures on the islands and sweeps them into the sea.

00:39:08Hurricane Wilma The storm occurs in the Caribbean Sea near

00:39:11Jamaica and heads to the west.

00:39:14Two days later, it gathers enough power to turn into the most intense hurricane ever

00:39:18recorded in the Atlantic Ocean.

00:39:22Hurricane Patricia A regular storm develops a well-defined eye

00:39:26and turns into a Category 5 hurricane within a mere 24 hours.

00:39:31At one point, it travels faster than a Ferrari moving at its top speed.

00:39:35It makes Patricia the world's most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded.

00:39:43Kamchatka earthquake It happens in the early morning 80 miles

00:39:47away from the shores of Kamchatka.

00:39:49The earth tremors produce a tsunami.

00:39:51The first two waves are catastrophic, up to 60 feet high.

00:39:56The third one's much weaker.

00:39:58Valparaiso earthquake, Chile It happens at about 5 a.m. along the boundary

00:40:03of two tectonic plates.

00:40:05The tsunami, triggered by the earthquake, wipes out 620 miles of Chile's coastline.

00:40:11Tohoku earthquake, Japan The first earth tremors start at a great underwater

00:40:16depth.

00:40:17The earthquake is so strong, it moves Japan's main island.

00:40:21It shifts the planet on its axis by up to 10 inches and increases its rotation speed.

00:40:27The disaster also triggers a tsunami with 133-foot-high waves that travel 6 miles inland.

00:40:35Indian Ocean earthquake, Sumatra A rupture along two tectonic plates sets off

00:40:40an undersea earthquake.

00:40:42It begins at about 8 a.m. near northern Sumatra, Indonesia.

00:40:46It makes the planet vibrate nearly a half inch and sets off earthquakes all over the

00:40:51world up to Alaska.

00:40:54Good Friday earthquake, Alaska The most powerful earthquake recorded in North

00:40:58America lasts for 4 minutes and 38 seconds.

00:41:02A 600-mile-long crack causes terrible landslides and a 27-foot tsunami.

00:41:09Areas 200 miles away get raised by 30 feet.

00:41:12Other places permanently drop 8 feet.

00:41:16Valdiva, Chile The Great Chilean Earthquake starts in the

00:41:20afternoon and lasts for no less than 10 minutes.

00:41:24The disaster affects an area the size of California.

00:41:27It triggers tsunamis that reach the shore of Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, Australia,

00:41:32and New Zealand.

00:41:36The average tornado usually lasts less than 10 minutes, but there are exceptions.

00:41:42El Reno tornado It's considered the world's largest tornado

00:41:46based on width.

00:41:47At its peak, the twister reaches 2.5 miles across.

00:41:52The Perryville tornado, U.S. It occurs at about 2 a.m. and starts with snapping

00:41:58hardwood trees and breaking down stone constructions.

00:42:01Then the whirlwind becomes stronger.

00:42:04It levels two-story buildings, flips and tosses cars as if they were toys.

00:42:09Bridge Creek Moor tornado When the twister gets into the town of Bridge

00:42:13Creek, its width is at its peak, 1 to 1.5 miles.

00:42:18The wind speed of the tornado reaches more than 300 mph.

00:42:22This natural disaster causes $1 billion in damage.

00:42:26Manitoba, Canada An outstanding tornado rages for nearly 3

00:42:31hours.

00:42:32It breaks tons of trees and utility poles, damages roads and farmhouses, but miraculously

00:42:38misses every town on its path.

00:42:42Tri-State tornado, U.S. The world's longest-lasting single tornado

00:42:47travels 220 miles through Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana.

00:42:52The average tornado's path is usually no longer than 5 miles.

00:42:57Tupelo-Gainesville, U.S. An outbreak that consists of at least 12 single

00:43:02tornadoes wipes out everything on its way.

00:43:06The accompanying rainstorms also trigger severe flash floods that make matters even

00:43:10worse.

00:43:15Valjeant landslide, Italy At 10 p.m., a landslide with a volume of

00:43:20100 Great Pyramids of Giza breaks off from the top of Monte Tocco.

00:43:25It falls into the Valjeant Dam Reservoir, producing a tsunami wave taller than the Golden

00:43:30Gate Bridge.

00:43:32Yunnan, China An avalanche of rocks, stones, and mud so

00:43:36big it could fill up Sydney Harbor forms a dam on the Jinsha River.

00:43:42The Hida River, Japan Triggered by a rainstorm, 300,000 Olympic

00:43:47swimming pools of debris flows down before getting stopped by another, earlier landslide.

00:43:53Along the way, the landslide sweeps two buses off the road.

00:43:57Peru A rock slide dams the Rio Montenegro, a long

00:44:02river running through the center of Peru.

00:44:05The whole process takes no more than 3 minutes, which means the landslide moves at a speed

00:44:10of up to 87 mph.

00:44:12It also leaves a trail of debris 5 miles long.

00:44:16The Usoy Dam, Tajikistan Set off by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake, the

00:44:23rock slide falls into the Mergab River and blocks its flow.

00:44:27That's how the Usoy Dam, one of the tallest in the world, appears.

00:44:32Mount St. Helens, USA At 8.30 am, after much build-up, a volcanic

00:44:38vent finally gives way and sets off a catastrophic eruption, which makes the entire north side

00:44:44of Mount St. Helens fall away.

00:44:47It's the world's largest recorded landslide.

00:44:50North Bonneville, US In the middle of the 15th century, a great

00:44:55earthquake occurs.

00:44:56An incredible amount of debris rushes down from Table Mountain.

00:45:00It covers more than 5 square miles and blocks the Columbia River with a dam 200 feet high

00:45:06and 3.5 miles long.

00:45:10Kyiv, Russia Ah, Kyiv, you've been dreaming of getting

00:45:14here for years.

00:45:15Getting out your trusty camera, you start taking pictures of the cathedrals, aviation

00:45:20museum, and the Dnipro River when, without warning, there's an enormous boom behind

00:45:26you.

00:45:27Turning around, you see something towering in the distance.

00:45:30It looks like a gigantic explosion.

00:45:32Uh-oh, time to leave fast!

00:45:35In June 2020, what the people of Kyiv were looking at was an anvil cloud, a rare storm

00:45:41formation in the sky.

00:45:44Forming when strong air currents carry water vapor upwards, the air expands and spreads

00:45:49out as it hits the bottom of the stratosphere.

00:45:53It pushes the dense cloud into the cool anvil shape you see, and sometimes it even gets

00:45:58to be a mushroom.

00:46:01Anvil clouds produce some of the most dangerous lightning of all storms, one that's called

00:46:06a bolt out of the blue.

00:46:08This lightning strike seems to magically come out of the blue sky with the storm being many

00:46:13miles away.

00:46:15This type of bolt comes from the top of the anvil and can be 10 times more powerful than

00:46:21a typical lightning strike.

00:46:24People got so frightened after witnessing a giant cloud just 60 miles away thinking

00:46:29something terrible must've happened.

00:46:31The locals had pictures of the large billow on social media before officials could explain

00:46:36what was going on.

00:46:39Authorities managed to calm everyone's fears by informing them it was nothing more than

00:46:43a natural phenomenon, and a beautiful one at that.

00:46:48Before dissipating, these clouds typically stay in one area regardless of how strong

00:46:53the wind is.

00:46:55Touring around the northern tip of Queensland, Australia, way away from those creepy crawlies,

00:47:01it's time to take a break and relax at the beach.

00:47:04Getting comfortable, you notice a great big shadow passes over you, then another, and

00:47:10yet another.

00:47:12Coming up, this weird weather is simply stunning.

00:47:16The clouds are called morning glory, a very rare type of cloud that almost seems to roll

00:47:21across the sky, looking like a massive tube.

00:47:26These clouds can measure up to 600 miles long, even appearing in large groups as well.

00:47:33This phenomenon is the result of an updraft pushing through the cloud, creating a rolling

00:47:38appearance, while moist cooler air at the back causes them to sink downward.

00:47:45Southern India between July and September 2001.

00:47:49People witnessed one of the strangest weather phenomenon in recorded history.

00:47:54The rain was red.

00:47:57What many would've thought to be a typical rainstorm left them shocked.

00:48:01The color was bright enough to stain clothes.

00:48:04There were other colors too, such as green, yellow, brown, and even black.

00:48:10In the middle of a monsoon, red rain started to fall, and did so periodically for several

00:48:16weeks.

00:48:17Researchers have found this unusual rain is stained either by dust or algae, so don't

00:48:23try to catch any on your tongue.

00:48:27Scientists aren't entirely sure how the algae got all the way up there.

00:48:31This does make events like this a little unsettling.

00:48:35Like to take a bubble bath to relax after an exhausting day, but taking too long to

00:48:39fill the bathtub?

00:48:41Problem solved!

00:48:42Head to any coastline after a big storm and take a dip.

00:48:47Foamy tides aren't native to any one place or location.

00:48:51They can be formed anywhere in the world.

00:48:54They're most likely to happen along rocky coastlines, like the coast of San Francisco,

00:48:59Northern Ireland, or the Mooloolaba, Australia.

00:49:03Each coast has differing conditions forming the sea foams.

00:49:07If you scoop up seawater into a glass and look at it closely, you'll see it's full

00:49:12of tiny particles.

00:49:14Many things like plants, chemicals, and lots of salt and minerals create the perfect formula

00:49:19for foam.

00:49:22When powerful currents and wind mix it all together, we get something that resembles

00:49:26a cappuccino top floating on top of the water.

00:49:31When freezing temperatures hit orchards in Michigan, all kinds of unusual things happen.

00:49:36Like ghost apples.

00:49:38No, they're not going to scare you at all.

00:49:41But if you plan on sneaking away one winter to find one, be warned!

00:49:46Everything has to be perfect for this to occur, and it's going to be freezing cold.

00:49:52This is actually a rare weather phenomenon caused by having the apples freeze where

00:49:56they are with rain coating the fruit in a thin layer of ice.

00:50:01The apples then thaw and leak out like applesauce, leaving just the beautiful ice shell behind.

00:50:09The Catatumbo River in Venezuela might be the most electric place in the world, with

00:50:15nearly 300 storm days per year.

00:50:18The lightning storms are so consistent, they're predicted for 3 months in advance.

00:50:24During the wet season in October, you might see 30 lightning flashes in a single minute,

00:50:29a truly shocking experience.

00:50:32With each bolt having the energy to power a single light bulb for 6 months, the impressive

00:50:38display could power all of Venezuela forever.

00:50:42At sunset, strong winds flow around the three surrounding mountains, forming storm clouds

00:50:48over the water.

00:50:49As the water droplets of humid air collide with ice crystals from the cold air, it produces

00:50:55the static charges that cause the lightning storms nearly every night.

00:51:01If that wasn't bad enough, some storms have lightning above them as well.

00:51:05Try to take a picture of this one!

00:51:08Jellyfish lightning sprites are electrical discharges high in Earth's atmosphere.

00:51:13They're associated with powerful thunderstorms, but they have nothing to do with rain.

00:51:19These sprites occur 30 to 50 miles up in the sky, in the mesosphere.

00:51:25Artificial lights at night make it a lot harder to see this faint lightning.

00:51:30If you spot one, it'll look tiny but can be well over 30 miles wide!

00:51:36The red sprites are a type of cold plasma discharge above a thundercloud.

00:51:41They're the balance of the lightning charges between the storm clouds and the ground below.

00:51:47Don't try to find this type of doughnut at your favorite bakery – it won't be there!

00:51:52Snow doughnuts are one of the rarest meteorological sights to see, with perfect weather conditions

00:51:58needed just to create them.

00:52:01Found in any snow-covered mountain area, like the Rocky Mountains, the wind, temperature,

00:52:06snow, ice, and moisture have to all work together for us to see these phenomenal rings.

00:52:13A thin layer of wet snow on the ground.

00:52:16Under that layer, ice or powdered snow.

00:52:19Then, a strong enough breeze to roll the doughnut down a hill, just like a snowball.

00:52:25Once it stops rolling, it can be the size of a baseball or as large as a car tire.

00:52:31It all depends on how strong the wind is.

00:52:34A newly formed snow doughnut won't stay around for very long, so hurry up with that

00:52:39camera!

00:52:41Watching the sunset over the horizon, the beautiful purples and pink overhead are nothing

00:52:47compared to the three suns you see in front of you.

00:52:50Wow, since when did Earth get three suns?

00:52:54These phantom stars sometimes appearing besides the sun are called sun dogs.

00:53:00Maybe they're called that because they're kind of dogging the actual sun?

00:53:05Sun dogs often appear as colored areas of light at the same height above the horizon

00:53:10as the sun.

00:53:12They're mostly observed on a ring or halo, where ice crystals best reflect the light.

00:53:18There are also moon dogs that appear alongside the moon and are formed by lunar light passing

00:53:23through ice crystals, though these aren't seen nearly as much as their daytime partners.

00:53:30Taking photos in the wild, you've finally found the perfect spot to take that dream

00:53:35shot.

00:53:36The crystal-clear water, the pines, the mountains, and the flying saucer!

00:53:41Wait, a flying saucer?

00:53:43Oh, aliens are here!

00:53:47You might be thinking this if you saw a saucer-shaped cloud.

00:53:51I'm not even going to try to pronounce their name, though.

00:53:54Put that on the screen, please.

00:53:56Wait, just kidding!

00:53:57It's Autocumulus lenticularis.

00:54:00Aren't you impressed?

00:54:02These are really just unusual cloud formations over mountaintops.

00:54:07When moist air flows over a mountain, a wave is created if the temperature difference is

00:54:12perfect.

00:54:13As the air passes through the wave, evaporation occurs, and a series of these clouds may form

00:54:19into an oval shape.

00:54:21Not aliens at all!

00:54:25The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

00:54:28Well, people who've experienced these clouds say they look like they're coming down from

00:54:33the sky.

00:54:34Mammatus clouds look like giant white lumpy marshmallows, but it might be hard to toast

00:54:40these ones.

00:54:41These weird fluffy clouds can extend hundreds of miles in any direction, remaining visible

00:54:47for short periods at the bottom of anvil or other thunderstorm clouds.

00:54:53The strange bubble shapes are formed from turbulence within the storm itself, creating

00:54:58an uneven cloud base and appearing anywhere in the world.

00:55:03Mammatus clouds form when moist air sinks into dry air.

00:55:07The air must be cooler than its surroundings, cooled with ice, or be heavy with water.

00:55:15This is John.

00:55:16John seems to attract all kinds of bad weather and natural disasters wherever he goes.

00:55:21See for yourself.

00:55:23One day, John notices his dog is restless.

00:55:26The pooch keeps scratching the entrance door and wandering around the house.

00:55:29He even tries to hide in the corner, howling and barking.

00:55:34When some mugs start to clink in your cupboard, John realizes what it means.

00:55:38The noise is produced by foreshocks, mini earthquakes leading up to the main event.

00:55:44Earthquakes often happen in clusters.

00:55:47After a few weak quakes, a much bigger one is likely to be on the way.

00:55:52Sometime before the disaster strikes, people might notice bizarre blue lights.

00:55:57Some of them seem to be coming out of the ground, others are hovering in the air.

00:56:01These are earthquake lights.

00:56:04They may appear days or mere seconds before the ground starts shaking.

00:56:09Now John is walking along the ocean shore.

00:56:12Suddenly, he sees the water retreat from the beach.

00:56:15Really, really fast.

00:56:16Uh oh.

00:56:17John, run away as quickly as you can and find some high ground!

00:56:21A tsunami is coming!

00:56:22And your life might depend on how fast you react.

00:56:26If John spots a bizarre and unexpected rise in sea level, it can be another sign of an

00:56:31approaching tsunami.

00:56:33This happens in 40% of cases.

00:56:36The incoming water is the first tsunami wave.

00:56:39The second one, way, way larger, will come in in about 10 minutes.

00:56:44John can also notice seawater bubbling, swirling, and creating bizarre patterns.

00:56:49It's another sure sign a tsunami is near.

00:56:52Hmm.

00:56:54John feels there's something strange about the sun.

00:56:57Through his special super dark sunglasses, he sees that there's some uneven flares around

00:57:02the star's contour.

00:57:03If these bizarre rays are accompanied by auroras all over the world, they're a sign of a solar

00:57:09storm.

00:57:10Such storms are usually caused by disturbances in the sun's magnetic field.

00:57:15In this case, the bursts of gas and radiation on the surface of the sun get so massive and

00:57:20powerful that they can even reach our planet.

00:57:23Luckily, solar storms aren't really dangerous for people, but they can mess with electricity

00:57:28and even cause blackouts.

00:57:31The sky over John's head is darkening and turning ominously green.

00:57:36Something hits him on the forehead.

00:57:37Ouch!

00:57:39He picks up the offending object.

00:57:40It's a hailstone, but it's not that cold outside, and it's not raining.

00:57:45Soon, he hears some noise.

00:57:47It's approaching rapidly and turns into a loud roar.

00:57:50It sounds as if a freight train is moving towards him, but it's not a train.

00:57:54It's a tornado.

00:57:56The funnel isn't visible behind a cloud of debris, but John can't mistake this rotating

00:58:01column of air for anything else.

00:58:04Are you on the road, John?

00:58:06Then get as far away from your car as you can.

00:58:08Fast!

00:58:09Find a ditch, lie down in it, and cover your head.

00:58:11Oh, you're inside?

00:58:13Then get away from the windows and hide underground if possible.

00:58:17And please, John, be very careful if you spot some conically shaped clouds.

00:58:22Those mean severe storms, and if you notice that such a cloud starts spinning around,

00:58:26immediately search for shelter.

00:58:29The cloud is transitioning into a tornado right in front of your eyes.

00:58:33On the bright side, John should only worry about warm conical clouds.

00:58:37Cold ones are totally harmless.

00:58:40The only problem is to figure out the temperature of the cloud he sees.

00:58:44Duh!

00:58:45Ah, look, John just spotted some weirdly shaped trees.

00:58:49They look like the letter J and grow on a slope.

00:58:52It means the ground under John's feet is likely to be unstable.

00:58:56If he keeps wandering around, it can cause a bad landslide.

00:59:01Square waves appear when two different wave patterns crash into each other.

00:59:05This phenomenon does look kinda awesome.

00:59:07No, don't go into the water, John.

00:59:09Keep watching it from the shore.

00:59:11Cross currents in that spot can easily pull even a skilled swimmer under the surface.

00:59:17John keeps walking along the shore.

00:59:19At one point, he sees wild, choppy waves carrying ocean debris and seaweed.

00:59:24This time, he stays out of the water.

00:59:26He knows it can be a sign of a strong rip current.

00:59:29It can carry a swimmer far away into the ocean.

00:59:34How about a walk in the park?

00:59:36John likes this idea.

00:59:37The sun is shining and the sky is so blue and beautiful.

00:59:41Suddenly, he spots a rapidly growing vertical cloud.

00:59:45At first, it looks bright white.

00:59:47But as it approaches, alarmingly fast, it becomes dense and inky.

00:59:52The sky is darkening.

00:59:54It's getting windy.

00:59:56That's when the guy notices that his hair stands on end.

00:59:59It's his cue that he's about to get hit by lightning.

01:00:01At this very moment, positive charges are rising through his body.

01:00:05They're reaching towards the negatively charged part of the storm.

01:00:08If he doesn't react fast, these charges will meet.

01:00:13There's nowhere to hide.

01:00:14So John should crouch down and try to make himself smaller than the objects around him.

01:00:18Oh no.

01:00:19John, don't lie down on the ground.

01:00:22It may be damp and thus a great conductor of electricity.

01:00:26There are other signs that scream danger during a lightning storm.

01:00:30John's palms may begin to sweat.

01:00:32He might hear bizarre crackling and buzzing sounds coming from metal objects nearby.

01:00:38His skin can start tingling.

01:00:40There might be a strange metallic taste in his mouth.

01:00:42Plus, John is likely to smell chlorine.

01:00:46That's how ozone smells.

01:00:49Electrical charges split the molecules of nitrogen and oxygen, which are the main gases

01:00:53making up the atmosphere, into separate atoms.

01:00:56When these atoms come together again, some of them produce molecules made up of three

01:01:00oxygen atoms.

01:01:02That's ozone.

01:01:03We can smell it during a thunderstorm because downdrafts bring this gas from high altitudes

01:01:08to your level.

01:01:10Some bugs can feel a storm coming.

01:01:13They get ready for a natural disaster by freezing.

01:01:16So when John notices that insects around him look drowsy, he knows to get ready.

01:01:21Oh, and bees can predict heavy rainstorms.

01:01:25These critters begin to work much harder the day before it starts raining.

01:01:30While walking next to the river during a period of heavy rains, John hears a roaring

01:01:35sound.

01:01:36He feels paralyzed with fear.

01:01:37It's likely to be a flash flood moving in his direction.

01:01:40Indeed, he soon sees debris coming down with the flow.

01:01:44The water is rapidly changing its color, becoming muddier and darker.

01:01:49Flash floods are very, very dangerous.

01:01:52Take care of your safety immediately, John!

01:01:56Another day, John sees a spectacular wall cloud.

01:01:59It seems to be stretching for up to five miles.

01:02:01In the best case scenario, it's just a severe storm coming.

01:02:05But if the wall cloud begins to move in a circle, it's a sure sign of a tornado.

01:02:11John is walking across a snowfield in the mountains, listening to the sounds the ice

01:02:15under his feet makes.

01:02:17The noise is kind of hollow.

01:02:19Hmm.

01:02:20Quickly check whether there are cracks around your footprints, John.

01:02:23If so, the chances are an avalanche is about to happen.

01:02:28John sees an avalanche moving in his direction.

01:02:30He does his best to get off the slope.

01:02:33In most cases, he could probably outrun it by heading downhill and then veering sideways.

01:02:38But not this time.

01:02:39He realizes he doesn't have enough time and heads for the nearest tree.

01:02:43If John keeps holding onto it really tightly, the avalanche might not pull him along.

01:02:48But if this doesn't work, he should try to swim up to the snow's surface while the avalanche

01:02:53is still moving.

01:02:56On a pretty nice summer evening, John notices leaves with soft stems droop all of a sudden.

01:03:02Ah, it might be because of an upcoming storm.

01:03:05Right before extreme weather arrives, the air usually becomes more humid.

01:03:09Leaves also get damp and heavy, and the wind easily flips them over.

01:03:15John lives in a pretty old house and is used to having cracks in the interior walls.

01:03:19But one day, he notices that some of them have widened.

01:03:22And look, there are a few new ones.

01:03:25It's an alarm bell.

01:03:26He lives in an area with loads of limestone, so new cracks can mean a sinkhole is about

01:03:31to open next to his house.

01:03:33John is hurrying home, trying not to waste time admiring shelf clouds.

01:03:38They look like something from a sci-fi movie.

01:03:40They form when warm and moist air gets caught in a thunderstorm updraft.

01:03:45And these ominous clouds most often mean a storm is coming.

01:03:57How about a circumhorizontal arc?

01:03:59Didn't think so, but just so you know, they're one and the same thing.

01:04:04At first glance, it looks like a painting, or like a rainbow-colored splash in the sky.

01:04:10Despite the name, they have nothing in common with either fire or rain.

01:04:14This phenomenon happens on rare occasions when the sun shines through a particular type

01:04:19of ice cloud formation.

01:04:22The rainbow halos are just as unique.

01:04:24Again, a specific type of ice crystals and clouds needs to be present for the surface

01:04:30of the Earth to bend light from the sun into a perfect ring.

01:04:34The same thing can happen with moonlight.

01:04:36The only difference will be that moon halos are usually white, and sun halos can be rainbow-colored.

01:04:43When visiting regions with high altitudes, you may be one of the lucky people to stumble

01:04:48upon penitentes.

01:04:50They're basically naturally formed ice spikes.

01:04:53For them to be formed, they need a really cold and elevated environment where the air

01:04:57is dry.

01:04:59The sunlight turns ice directly into vapor, rather than melting it into water.

01:05:04And that's why these blades of snow and ice start to pop up on the surface of the

01:05:08Earth.

01:05:09As cute as they may be, they can end up as tall as 15 feet!

01:05:14Now what happens when small individual droplets of lava meet the wind?

01:05:19It's Pele's hair, basically.

01:05:21Let me explain.

01:05:22The word Pele comes from an ancient Hawaiian symbol for volcanoes.

01:05:27Whenever the wind picks up little drops of lava, it stretches them into hair-like strands,

01:05:33similar to the process of glass wire creation.

01:05:36These delicate strands can stretch as far as 6 feet!

01:05:40On rare occasions, it can rain without any clouds.

01:05:44But does it really?

01:05:46Let's look at the science behind this rare phenomenon.

01:05:49It's sometimes called a sun shower, just because it looks like the rain is falling

01:05:53straight from the sun.

01:05:55Let's be clear, though.

01:05:57There is no way rain can ever come down directly from a star.

01:06:01Rain clouds are at a bit of a distance from that specific location.

01:06:05With sun rays being angled, the clouds become out of sight.

01:06:09Add a little wind to blow the rain in your direction, and ta-da!

01:06:14You get sun showers!

01:06:16Located in Bolivia is a place called Salar de Uyuni.

01:06:20It's the largest salt flat in the world.

01:06:22It's also the home of half of the world's lithium, which is a crucial component for

01:06:27making batteries.

01:06:29But what else is so special about this place?

01:06:32Whenever the rain season comes, it turns this piece of flat land into a perfectly reflective

01:06:38mirror lake.

01:06:40What comes to your mind when you hear about the Blood Falls?

01:06:42A horror movie?

01:06:43Well, they are merely a series of waterfalls located in one of the driest regions of Antarctica.

01:06:50They emerge from an underground lake filled with a special kind of bacteria.

01:06:55These little organisms use sulfates as fuel instead of sugars, which makes them very intriguing

01:07:00for scientists.

01:07:02The water contained in this lake is so full of iron that it basically just rusts when

01:07:07it meets the air.

01:07:08Hence, the reddish color of the waterfall, which also gives it its trademark name.

01:07:13Ok, we all know the song, but it's not really made up.

01:07:18There is actually such a thing called a desert rose.

01:07:21It's not a plant, though, but a unique form of the mineral gypsum.

01:07:25It develops in dry sandy places that can occasionally flood.

01:07:29This constant switching between a wet and dry environment lets the gypsum crystals emerge

01:07:34between grains of sand, trapping them and forming a rose-like shape.

01:07:40Ever heard of the Eye of Sahara?

01:07:42Scientists are still trying to figure out how it was formed.

01:07:46You can only see it if you fly above it, but it's basically a naturally formed dome that

01:07:51dates back to approximately 100 million years ago.

01:07:55And no, I wasn't around then.

01:07:57It has a rough diameter of 25 miles and consists of a bunch of concentric rings.

01:08:03The biggest one, or the central area, measures about 19 miles in diameter.

01:08:08Astronauts were some of the first people to notice it, and it's been studied ever since.

01:08:13In fact, even to this day, when landing in Florida, they know they're almost home when

01:08:19they see the Eye of Sahara.

01:08:22One of the most beautifully colored trees in the world is located in the Philippines

01:08:26and Indonesia.

01:08:28It's called the Rainbow Eucalyptus.

01:08:30It got its name because of its bark that switches colors and peels away as the tree ages.

01:08:36The bright green bark is the youngest, as it contains a substance called chlorophyll,

01:08:41usually found in leaves.

01:08:43It then switches to purple, and then to the color red.

01:08:46And finally, it turns brown as it grows and loses the chlorophyll.

01:08:52Don't be tricked into thinking that's a whole forest.

01:08:55It's one single tree.

01:08:57And no, it's not some sort of optical illusion either.

01:09:00Let me explain.

01:09:02Underneath that soil, there is a complex network of roots that connects around 47,000 tree-like

01:09:08shapes you see above the ground.

01:09:11It's called the Quaking Aspen.

01:09:13Some of these trees are among the oldest and largest organisms in the world.

01:09:18Now here's a good destination for all travelers, or maybe not so good after all.

01:09:23The most lightning-stricken area in the world, according to recent data released by NASA,

01:09:29is Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela.

01:09:32Out of all the days in a year, 300 of them feature thunderstorms in this location.

01:09:37What makes this area so unique, though, that storms happen so often?

01:09:41Well, it's because where cool mountain air meets the warm moist breeze and generates

01:09:47electricity over the lake.

01:09:50The Eternal Flame Falls are located in upstate New York, near the Canadian border.

01:09:55In this region, there is a tiny waterfall with a big secret – a spark about 8 inches tall.

01:10:02Turns out there's a natural gas seep that provides fuel to the flame behind the waterfall.

01:10:08The waterfall provides enough coverage so that it stays lit pretty much every time.

01:10:13Hikers do enjoy to relight it if they see that it's been blown out.

01:10:17This phenomenon is actually quite common, but this one gained more popularity because

01:10:22it is younger than most.

01:10:24And it looks very good in pictures, let's be honest.

01:10:27I've heard of yellow sand, white sand, and even black sand here or there.

01:10:32But I've never heard of green beaches until now.

01:10:35Papakolea, also known as Green Sand Beach, is located in Hawaii and is one of the few

01:10:41beaches in the world that features green sand.

01:10:45The unique coloring comes from olivine rock that was formed when a nearby volcano erupted.

01:10:51Actually in Hawaii, all the volcanoes are nearby.

01:10:55Move over, green sands, because some of the other beaches around the world can even glow

01:10:59at night.

01:11:00And it's completely natural.

01:11:02The culprit?

01:11:03A little thing called photoplankton, or microalgae as they're sometimes called.

01:11:09They're basically little plants that contain chlorophyll and need sunlight in order to

01:11:13live and grow.

01:11:16Most photoplankton kinds are able to float in the upper part of the ocean, where the

01:11:20sunlight can still reach them beneath the water.

01:11:23When the photoplankton gets agitated by the movement of waves and currents, they emit

01:11:28light, which looks like some glow during the night.

01:11:31These special microorganisms are found on beaches in a lot of places around the world,

01:11:36such as the Maldives, Puerto Rico, and the Everglades.

01:11:41At the base of a mountain located just outside of Afton, Wyoming, is a little river called

01:11:46the Intermittent Spring.

01:11:49There are only 3 of this kind in the whole world, but what makes this little string of

01:11:53water so mysterious?

01:11:54Well, the fact that it starts and stops every few minutes.

01:11:59Scientists have yet to pinpoint precisely why this happens.

01:12:02They speculate that it's basically just a siphon effect that happens deep within the

01:12:06ground that causes the river to just start and stop so often.

01:12:10Should you ever be interested in checking it out, be sure to do so in the late summer,

01:12:16as that's when the Intermittent Spring is most active.

01:12:19Do you see the irony here?

01:12:21You can only see the spring in the summer?

01:12:24Ok, I'm done.

01:12:26This is John.

01:12:27John seems to attract all kinds of bad weather and natural disasters wherever he goes.

01:12:32See for yourself.

01:12:35One day, John notices his dog is restless.

01:12:37The pooch keeps scratching the entrance door and wandering around the house.

01:12:41He even tries to hide in the corner, howling and barking.

01:12:45When some mugs start to clink in your cupboard, John realizes what it means.

01:12:49The noise is produced by foreshocks, mini earthquakes leading up to the main event.

01:12:56Earthquakes often happen in clusters.

01:12:58After a few weak quakes, a much bigger one is likely to be on the way.

01:13:03Sometime before the disaster strikes, people might notice bizarre blue lights.

01:13:08Some of them seem to be coming out of the ground, others are hovering in the air.

01:13:13These are earthquake lights.

01:13:15They may appear days or mere seconds before the ground starts shaking.

01:13:20Now John is walking along the ocean shore.

01:13:23Suddenly, he sees the water retreat from the beach, really, really fast.

01:13:27Uh oh!

01:13:28John, run away as quickly as you can and find some high ground!

01:13:32A tsunami is coming!

01:13:34And your life might depend on how fast you react.

01:13:37If John spots a bizarre and unexpected rise in sea level, it can be another sign of an

01:13:42approaching tsunami.

01:13:44This happens in 40% of cases.

01:13:47The incoming water is the first tsunami wave.

01:13:50The second one, way, way larger, will come in in about 10 minutes.

01:13:55John can also notice seawater bubbling, swirling, and creating bizarre patterns.

01:14:00It's another sure sign a tsunami is near.

01:14:04Hmm, John feels there's something strange about the sun.

01:14:08Through his special super dark sunglasses, he sees that there's some uneven flares around

01:14:13the star's contour.

01:14:15If these bizarre rays are accompanied by auroras all over the world, they're a sign of a solar

01:14:20storm.

01:14:21Such storms are usually caused by disturbances in the sun's magnetic field.

01:14:26In this case, the bursts of gas and radiation on the surface of the sun get so massive and

01:14:31powerful that they can even reach our planet!

01:14:34Luckily, solar storms aren't really dangerous for people, but they can mess with electricity

01:14:40and even cause blackouts.

01:14:42The sky over John's head is darkening and turning ominously green.

01:14:47Something hits him on the forehead.

01:14:49Ouch!

01:14:50He picks up the offending object.

01:14:51It's a hailstone, but it's not that cold outside, and it's not raining.

01:14:56Soon, he hears some noise.

01:14:58It's approaching rapidly and turns into a loud roar.

01:15:01It sounds as if a freight train is moving towards him, but it's not a train.

01:15:05It's a tornado!

01:15:07The funnel isn't visible behind a cloud of debris, but John can't mistake this rotating

01:15:12column of air for anything else.

01:15:16Are you on the road, John?

01:15:17Then get as far away from your car as you can!

01:15:19Fast!

01:15:20Find a ditch!

01:15:22Put a stone in it and cover your head!

01:15:23Oh, you're inside?

01:15:24Then get away from the windows and hide underground if possible!

01:15:28And please, John, be very careful if you spot some conically shaped clouds.

01:15:33Those mean severe storms, and if you notice that such a cloud starts spinning around,

01:15:38immediately search for shelter.

01:15:40The cloud is transitioning into a tornado right in front of your eyes!

01:15:44On the bright side, John should only worry about warm conical clouds.

01:15:49Cold ones are totally harmless.

01:15:51The only problem is to figure out the temperature of the cloud he sees.

01:15:55Duh!

01:15:56Ah, look, John just spotted some weirdly shaped trees.

01:16:00They look like the letter J and grow on a slope.

01:16:03It means the ground under John's feet is likely to be unstable.

01:16:07If he keeps wandering around, it can cause a bad landslide!

01:16:12Square waves appear when two different wave patterns crash into each other.

01:16:16This phenomenon does look kinda awesome!

01:16:18No, don't go into the water, John!

01:16:21Keep watching it from the shore.

01:16:22Cross currents in that spot can easily pull even a skilled swimmer under the surface.

01:16:28John keeps walking along the shore.

01:16:30At one point, he sees wild, choppy waves carrying ocean debris and seaweed.

01:16:35This time, he stays out of the water.

01:16:37He knows it can be a sign of a strong rip current.

01:16:40It can carry a swimmer far away into the ocean!

01:16:45How about a walk in the park?

01:16:47John likes this idea!

01:16:48The sun is shining and the sky is so blue and beautiful.

01:16:52Suddenly, he spots a rapidly growing vertical cloud.

01:16:56At first, it looks bright white, but as it approaches, alarmingly fast, it becomes dense

01:17:02and inky.

01:17:03The sky is darkening.

01:17:05It's getting windy.

01:17:07That's when the guy notices that his hair stands on end.

01:17:10It's his cue that he's about to get hit by lightning.

01:17:13At this very moment, positive charges are rising through his body.

01:17:17They're reaching towards the negatively charged part of the storm.

01:17:19If he doesn't react fast, these charges will meet.

01:17:24There's nowhere to hide, so John should crouch down and try to make himself smaller than

01:17:28the objects around him.

01:17:29Oh no!

01:17:30John, don't lie down on the ground!

01:17:33It may be damp and thus a great conductor of electricity.

01:17:37There are other signs that scream danger during a lightning storm.

01:17:41John's palms may begin to sweat.

01:17:43He might hear bizarre crackling and buzzing sounds coming from metal objects nearby.

01:17:49His skin can start tingling.

01:17:51There might be a strange metallic taste in his mouth.

01:17:53Plus, John is likely to smell chlorine.

01:17:57That's how ozone smells.

01:18:00Electrical charges split the molecules of nitrogen and oxygen, which are the main gases

01:18:04making up the atmosphere, into separate atoms.

01:18:07When these atoms come together again, some of them produce molecules made up of three

01:18:11oxygen atoms.

01:18:13That's ozone.

01:18:14We can smell it during a thunderstorm because downdrafts bring this gas from high altitudes

01:18:19to your level.

01:18:22Some bugs can feel a storm coming.

01:18:24They get ready for a natural disaster by freezing.

01:18:27So when John notices that insects around him look drowsy, he knows to get ready.

01:18:32Oh, and bees can predict heavy rainstorms.

01:18:36These critters begin to work much harder the day before it starts raining.

01:18:41While walking next to the river during a period of heavy rains, John hears a roaring

01:18:46sound.

01:18:47He feels paralyzed with fear.

01:18:49It's likely to be a flash flood moving in his direction.

01:18:51Indeed, he soon sees debris coming down with the flow.

01:18:55The water is rapidly changing its color, becoming muddier and darker.

01:19:00Flash floods are very, very dangerous.

01:19:03Take care of your safety immediately, John!

01:19:07Another day, John sees a spectacular wall cloud.

01:19:10It seems to be stretching for up to five miles.

01:19:13In the best case scenario, it's just a severe storm coming.

01:19:16But if the wall cloud begins to move in a circle, it's a sure sign of a tornado.

01:19:22John is walking across a snowfield in the mountains, listening to the sounds the ice

01:19:26under his feet makes.

01:19:28The noise is kind of hollow.

01:19:30Hmm.

01:19:31Quickly check whether there are cracks around your footprints, John.

01:19:34If so, the chances are an avalanche is about to happen.

01:19:38Soon, John sees an avalanche moving in his direction.

01:19:41He does his best to get off the slope.

01:19:44In most cases, he could probably outrun it by heading downhill and then veering sideways.

01:19:48But not this time.

01:19:50He realizes he doesn't have enough time and heads for the nearest tree.

01:19:54If John keeps holding onto it really tightly, the avalanche might not pull him along.

01:19:59But if this doesn't work, he should try to swim up to the snow's surface while the avalanche

01:20:04is still moving.

01:20:07On a pretty nice summer evening, John notices leaves with soft stems droop all of a sudden.

01:20:13Ah, it might be because of an upcoming storm.

01:20:16Right before extreme weather arrives, the air usually becomes more humid.

01:20:20Leaves also get damp and heavy, and the wind easily flips them over.

01:20:26John lives in a pretty old house and is used to having cracks in the interior walls.

01:20:30But one day, he notices that some of them have widened.

01:20:34And look, there are a few new ones!

01:20:36It's an alarm bell!

01:20:37He lives in an area with loads of limestone, so new cracks can mean a sinkhole is about

01:20:42to open next to his house!

01:20:44John is hurrying home, trying not to waste time admiring shelf clouds.

01:20:49They look like something from a sci-fi movie.

01:20:51They form when warm and moist air gets caught in a thunderstorm updraft, and these ominous

01:20:57clouds most often mean a storm is coming.

01:21:03Sure, some people say interacting with animals is good for our health.

01:21:08I'm sorry to break it to you, but it really doesn't apply to all creatures.

01:21:13Just to be sure you're safe, let's take a look at some you should steer clear of,

01:21:17especially their kisses.

01:21:21Not that you'd like touching worms anytime soon, but do stay away from ribbon worms.

01:21:27They're easy to spot because these long, thin creatures are often brightly colored.

01:21:32You'll see some of them in oceans, while other species can also live on land.

01:21:37Ribbon worms have a unique feature called a proboscis, which is a long, thin tube that

01:21:42they use to capture and eat their prey.

01:21:45They're often very flexible and can stretch out to catch their food or wrap around objects.

01:21:50Some ribbon worms are also venomous, often sneaking harmful substances into their prey.

01:21:56Even more so, they can also secrete a slime that can be irritating to the skin.

01:22:03Let's also look at the cone snail for a bit.

01:22:06This one lives in the ocean, usually in warm and shallow waters near coral reefs.

01:22:12It can be found in many different colors and patterns, and uses its long, pointed shell

01:22:17to hide and protect itself.

01:22:19It also has a long, pointed tongue, which can be quite dangerous.

01:22:23It's called a radula, and the snail uses it to catch its prey.

01:22:28Inside its tongue, there are tiny, sharp teeth.

01:22:31When the cone snail sees a fish or other small animal, it shoots out its tongue and injects

01:22:36its harpoons into its prey.

01:22:39These harpoons are covered in venom, which can make the prey very sick.

01:22:43The venom can also be harmful to humans, so it's important to be careful around cone

01:22:48snails.

01:22:51Eels and lampreys have had quite a complicated relationship over the years.

01:22:55In case you haven't heard of them, they are eel-like fish that are known for this unusual

01:23:00feature – tube-shaped mouths with scary teeth!

01:23:04They are parasites that attach themselves to other fish and feed on their blood and

01:23:09tissues.

01:23:10You'll find them in both fresh and saltwater.

01:23:13Despite the terrifying way they look, people have eaten them for a long time.

01:23:18Some rich and powerful people in the past, like kings and emperors, enjoyed having them

01:23:23for dinner as a delicacy.

01:23:25There's even a story about a king who ate so many lampreys that he eventually kicked

01:23:29the proverbial bucket!

01:23:31Tasty as they may seem for some, they are quite dangerous.

01:23:35They can cause trouble for people because they can attach themselves to the skin and

01:23:39use their sharp teeth to feed on their host's blood and tissue.

01:23:43This is what earned it the nickname, vampire fish.

01:23:47Lampreys can cause severe damage to their host because of things like infection or loss

01:23:51of blood.

01:23:53More so, the wounds they cause can be difficult to heal and may leave scarring.

01:24:00Lampreys may not be your dream fish, but they do look like beauty pageant contestants next

01:24:05to the hagfish!

01:24:07A hagfish is also a slimy, eel-like fish that lives in the ocean.

01:24:12It has a long, slippery body and no scales.

01:24:15Instead, it has a layer of slime that it can release to protect itself from predators

01:24:20or to help it move through the water.

01:24:23Hagfish are scavengers and will eat expired animals that they find in the ocean.

01:24:27Thankfully, they're not known to attack or harm humans, but you should steer clear of

01:24:32these pesky mouths of theirs.

01:24:35That's because they can carry a lot of harmful bacteria, seeing as they don't eat from the

01:24:39fresh produce aisle, if you know what I mean.

01:24:42They can be a problem for divers or fishermen because they can give off a slime that can

01:24:46clog fishing nets and make the water difficult to see in.

01:24:50Because they often feast themselves from the ocean's trash cans, they can smell pretty

01:24:55bad, too.

01:24:58A fish that's dubbed the cookie-cutter shark might seem cute when you first hear about

01:25:03them, but these creatures can be quite dangerous.

01:25:06They are small fish that got their name because of the unique way they eat food.

01:25:11These creatures feature a small, circular-shaped mouth that comes with a terrifying set of

01:25:16teeth.

01:25:17They allow the shark to cut out round pieces directly from their prey, just like a cookie-cutter

01:25:23leaves an imprint on a piece of dough.

01:25:26You'll find them in tropical waters around the world, and what's even more dangerous

01:25:30is that they often swim near the surface of the water, so people are more likely to get

01:25:35into contact with these fish when surfing or swimming.

01:25:41Ever heard of a trash panda?

01:25:42Well, if you haven't heard of it before, this is actually a nickname for the naughty

01:25:47raccoon.

01:25:48They are small, furry animals with black and white markings on their face and bushy tail.

01:25:54These quirky creatures are famous for their mischievous behavior, like raiding trash cans

01:25:59for food.

01:26:00They are often found near forests and are more active at night time.

01:26:04Despite their innocent looks, raccoons can be dangerous if they lick you.

01:26:10That's because their saliva can contain harmful bacteria or diseases.

01:26:14It's best to avoid contact with raccoons and to seek help if you've been licked by one,

01:26:20just in case.

01:26:22The odds of you ever encountering the Oaxacan salamander are pretty slim, but did you know

01:26:28its tongue is dangerous?

01:26:31Weirdly enough, it's because of its speed.

01:26:34This type of salamander is found in the Oaxaca region of Mexico.

01:26:37It also features a dark brown or black body and bright orange or yellow markings on its

01:26:43arms, legs, and tail.

01:26:45This creature spends most of its time in the trees, where it feeds on insects.

01:26:50It's nocturnal, and when threatened, it can release a nasty substance from its skin to

01:26:54protect itself from predators.

01:26:56However, a new study has found that this giant palm salamander has the most powerful muscle

01:27:02in the animal kingdom.

01:27:04It can shoot out its tongue with so much power that being snapped by it can cause serious

01:27:09damage.

01:27:10It can also extend its tongue more than half its body length in just 7 milliseconds.

01:27:17Geese are pretty common domesticated animals.

01:27:20If you've ever spent some time on a farm, you've encountered these sturdy birds for

01:27:24sure.

01:27:25They might look wobbly, but they can get aggressive to protect their territory and their offspring.

01:27:31It's no surprise some farms even use these birds for protection, mostly because they

01:27:35get easily startled by noise and can alert the owner if something unusual is going on

01:27:41in their yard.

01:27:42Nevertheless, geese can be dangerous if they bite you.

01:27:46Their beaks can cause injury and can also carry bacteria that can lead to many other

01:27:51problems inside your body.

01:27:53It's important to avoid approaching or interacting with geese in a way that may provoke them

01:27:58to bite.

01:28:00The list of animals you shouldn't let lick you doesn't end with wild ones.

01:28:05Let's look at domesticated ones too, like cats.

01:28:09Their tongue is made of small backward-facing spines called papillae, which help them groom

01:28:14themselves and eat.

01:28:16These papillae are made out of keratin, the same protein found in human nails and hair.

01:28:22If you've ever been licked by a cat, you know the sensation.

01:28:25It's like being touched by sandpaper.

01:28:28A cat's rough tongue can cause irritation on any type of skin if used a lot or aggressively.

01:28:36Same goes with dogs.

01:28:37Your dog can have bacteria in its mouth that can cause you some problems.

01:28:42Dogs can get these bacteria by sniffing or eating animal waste or by drinking dirty water.

01:28:48Sometimes, dogs have these bacteria in their bodies but do not look sick, so you might

01:28:53be easily confused into thinking your dog is actually top-notch healthy.

01:28:57If you don't want to have any problems from the stuff in your dog's mouth, avoid letting

01:29:02them lick your mouth or nose, and wash your hands and face after giving them a kiss.

01:29:09If you do, however, have a routine with your dog and can't help yourself to these smooches,

01:29:14kissing your dog on the cheek instead of the lips is a safer option.

01:29:19Allowing your pets to lick you can reinforce unwanted behavior, like begging for food

01:29:24or attention.

01:29:25Some pets may even have allergies that can be passed on to humans through their saliva.

01:29:33In Russia, on the shores of the Baltic Sea, there's an enigmatic national park.

01:29:38The Dancing Forest is a place that no scientist has managed to explain so far.

01:29:43The pine trees of the forest are all crooked and twisted into loops and spirals.

01:29:48The forest didn't appear until the early 60s, when the pines were planted in order

01:29:52to make the sand dune in that area more stable.

01:29:55One theory is that it's the unstable sand that made the trees twist in such a way.

01:30:01Other theories for the crooked trees are strong winds or even supernatural powers.

01:30:06Some people say the forest is a place where positive and negative energies meet, twisting

01:30:10the trees.

01:30:12Local legend says that if a person climbs through one of the rings of a tree, it'll

01:30:17add an extra year to this person's life, or they'll be granted a wish.

01:30:21I like that one.

01:30:22Speaking of bizarre trees, and I was, one grows in the region of Piedmont, Italy.

01:30:28There, a cherry tree grows on the top of a mulberry tree.

01:30:32The strange thing is that both trees are perfectly healthy.

01:30:38A continuous storm at Saturn's North Pole has an odd shape – a hexagon.

01:30:43This is probably because of the gradient of the winds.

01:30:46The total length of this cloud pattern is 9,000 miles, which is about 1,200 miles longer

01:30:52than the Earth's diameter.

01:30:54The hexagon has been observed for many years, but it gets even more mysterious because it

01:30:59changes color too.

01:31:01It used to be turquoise, but it has recently shifted to a golden color.

01:31:06The reason for the color change is that the pole gets exposed to sunlight as the seasons

01:31:11change.

01:31:14Rain isn't unusual for Oakville, Washington.

01:31:16However, this one still doesn't have any solid scientific explanation.

01:31:21Instead of common raindrops, people watched translucent jelly-like blobs fall from the

01:31:26skies.

01:31:28These blobs covered about 20 square miles.

01:31:31Those who got really close to the rain experienced flu-like symptoms.

01:31:35What were the blobs?

01:31:37Researchers claimed that the blobs contained human white blood cells.

01:31:41Other tests showed no presence of nuclei.

01:31:44Some people claim the blobs might've been evaporated jellyfish resulting in rain.

01:31:49Or maybe even waste from a commercial plane.

01:31:54Walking rocks, also known as sailing rocks, move across the Death Valley National Park

01:31:59in California without any external intervention, leaving long trails in the dirt and sand along

01:32:05their way.

01:32:07Various time-lapse footages of the moving rocks have been taken.

01:32:11Scientists even installed GPS navigators on some of the rocks, and it showed that the

01:32:15rocks move at a considerable speed.

01:32:18Some researchers believe that the movement is due to thin sheets of ice that form overnight

01:32:23at freezing temperatures in the valley, letting the rocks move until it melts during the day.

01:32:29Or there was a Rolling Stones concert.

01:32:32Nah.

01:32:34The Batageka Crater in Siberia looks like a doorway to the underworld.

01:32:40It's about a half-mile long and over 280 feet deep, but it never stops growing.

01:32:45As it gets deeper, it exposes more underground layers.

01:32:49The layers show what our planet looked like thousands of years ago, as the slumps revealed

01:32:54the used-to-be climates.

01:32:56The crater appeared back in the 60s, and it all started with rapid deforestation.

01:33:01Trees no longer cast shade on the ground, and it got hotter.

01:33:04The permafrost melted, resulting in the crater formation.

01:33:10The throbbing hum in Taos, New Mexico has driven locals wild since the 1990s.

01:33:21The low-frequency hum deprives people of sleep and depletes their energy.

01:33:26Even though scientists have tried to find the source of the hum, they still haven't

01:33:30pinpointed its origin.

01:33:32Variations of the hum have also been heard in the UK, Australia, Canada, and other areas

01:33:37of the U.S.

01:33:38Luckily, only about 2% of the world's population can hear it.

01:33:43The hums have been blamed on mechanical devices, multiple disturbances of auditory systems,

01:33:48and even animals.

01:33:50The West Seattle hum, for example, was blamed on toadfish.

01:33:56Fairy rings, also known as elf rings or pixie rings, are mysterious rings of mushrooms that

01:34:02appear in grasslands and forested areas.

01:34:05There's a lot of debate about why these fungi form a nearly perfect circle.

01:34:10Some superstitions claim that fairy dances would burn the ground, causing mushrooms to

01:34:14rapidly grow.

01:34:17In Costa Rica, there's an assortment of about 300 spherical stone balls.

01:34:23Locals call them las bolas, which is simply the balls in English.

01:34:27These stones have an almost perfect round shape.

01:34:30Some of them are huge, weighing up to 16 tons each.

01:34:34They're also made of different materials – gabbro, limestone, and sandstone.

01:34:38They're considered to have been put in straight lines in front of the chiefs' houses, but

01:34:43there's no precise information of their origin.

01:34:46Some myths claim that these stones originated in Atlantis.

01:34:52If you ever travel to the Mekong River in late October, you have a chance of seeing

01:34:57glowing balls rising from the water and beelining up into the air.

01:35:02Locals call these glowing balls the Naga fireballs.

01:35:05The size of the lights vary.

01:35:07The reddish balls can be as tiny as a spark and as large as a basketball.

01:35:12There can be dozens to thousands of balls a night.

01:35:15Scientists don't have any solid explanation for why it happens, but it could be due to

01:35:20flammable gases released by the marshy environment.

01:35:23Some superstitious locals are sure it's all because of a giant serpent living in the

01:35:28Mekong.

01:35:29Great balls of fire!

01:35:33In Minnesota, on the north shore of Lake Superior, there's a park known for the Devil's Kettle.

01:35:39This is a waterfall that splits in two.

01:35:42One part of the river continues, while the other part disappears into a hole in the ground.

01:35:47Whatever object you throw into the Devil's Kettle won't reappear.

01:35:52Scientists still haven't fully explained where the water that drops into the hole goes.

01:35:56Devil's Kettle is considered to be unsafe for people because it's nearly impossible

01:36:01to trace the flow.

01:36:02Yeah, not a place to go tubing.

01:36:06Grunions are fish known for their bizarre mating ritual.

01:36:10The females climb out of the water and onto the shore.

01:36:13They dig their tails into the sand in order to lay eggs.

01:36:16The legs stay hidden in the sand, waiting.

01:36:19Ten days later, the high tide comes, washing the newly hatched young to the sea.

01:36:25Scientists still can't give any solid explanation for this way of breeding.

01:36:31People who live in rural central Norway, over the Hestalen Valley, can often witness floating

01:36:36lights of white, yellow, and red cross the sky.

01:36:40The lights appear both at day and night, and once back in the 80s, they were spotted 15-20

01:36:46times in a single week.

01:36:48The Hestalen lights can last just a few seconds, but sometimes they can last more than an hour.

01:36:54The lights move, seeming to float or even sway around.

01:36:58Some scientists believe that the reason for these lights is due to ionized iron dust.

01:37:03Others say it's combustion that includes sodium, oxygen, and hydrogen.

01:37:08Many people claim they're just misidentified aircrafts.

01:37:13Yellowstone Park has a famous boiling lake, but it's not the world's only place of

01:37:18boiling water.

01:37:19Deep in the Amazon, there's the 4-mile Chenet-Timpishka River that's always hot.

01:37:25The name means boiled by the sun.

01:37:27Well, it's not exactly boiling, but it can reach 196°F – enough to cook pasta!

01:37:34Ooh, let's try that!

01:37:36The lowest temperature in these waters is about 113°F.

01:37:40This river still can't be scientifically explained because it would require close proximity

01:37:45to a volcano for the water to reach such temperatures.

01:37:49However, the closest volcano is 400 miles away.

01:37:53But there could be a fault between the Earth that could explain this phenomenon.

01:37:59In western Venezuela, locals living close to the Catatumbo River aren't afraid of

01:38:04lightning because they see it almost every single night.

01:38:08It starts at around 7 o'clock and doesn't stop until dawn.

01:38:12The everlasting Catatumbo lightning did once stop for a few months, from January to March

01:38:172010.

01:38:18It was probably due to drought.

01:38:20Or maybe the charge ran out.

01:38:23In 1991, a scientist suggested that the phenomenon happens because of cold and warm air currents

01:38:29meeting in the area.

01:38:31Another theory is that the lightning could be due to the presence of uranium in the bedrock.

01:38:36Speaking of lightning, I gotta bolt.

01:38:38Bye!

01:38:39If there were cataclysms on Earth every 5 minutes, living conditions on our planet would

01:38:45be almost the same as 4.5 billion years ago.

01:38:49Back then, seas and oceans boiled, lightning struck everywhere, tectonic plates changed

01:38:55their shape, lava flowed from volcanoes, and worse, no Internet.

01:39:01The Earth resembled a vast boiling cauldron where life was gradually being created.

01:39:07If it starts to boil again, this cauldron could destroy almost all life on the planet.

01:39:12Hmm, consecutive cataclysms.

01:39:14Won't hurt to pretend.

01:39:16Let's imagine, shall we?

01:39:18Good morning!

01:39:19You wake up in a small underground bunker.

01:39:22The seismic sensor indicates that a 7-point earthquake will start in a few minutes.

01:39:27You pack a huge waterproof backpack and go upstairs.

01:39:31The underground bunker is protected from seismic activity.

01:39:34It moves with the ground, so you're safe here.

01:39:37But you need to leave the shelter because supplies are low.

01:39:40Also, yesterday, you picked up a radio signal telling all survivors to go south immediately.

01:39:46The coordinates they gave aren't far from your location.

01:39:50You have to hurry, though, before the landscape changes again.

01:39:53You open the hatch and find yourself in the middle of the desert.

01:39:57The sun is almost invisible beyond the gray sky.

01:40:00The ground is shaking, but you're not afraid.

01:40:03There are no houses or buildings, nothing to fall on you.

01:40:07You keep your balance perfectly, and the earthquake doesn't knock you off your feet.

01:40:11It's like jumping on a trampoline.

01:40:13The only danger is the deep chasms in the ground, but you can easily jump over them.

01:40:18After such an extreme morning warm-up, you decide to have breakfast.

01:40:23You take a tin can out of your backpack.

01:40:25You have a few minutes before the next disaster, so you eat and remember how your great-grandfather

01:40:31told you how all this started.

01:40:34Before all of this, the planet was divided into territories called countries.

01:40:38Millions of people lived in them, and then something terrible happened.

01:40:42The tectonic plates started to move, and the air temperature and atmospheric pressure began

01:40:47to rapidly change.

01:40:49In one day, earthquakes destroyed entire cities.

01:40:53Tsunamis and floods washed away the remaining ruins.

01:40:56Volcanic ash blocked the passage of sunlight.

01:41:00Ice fires destroyed almost all vegetation, and eruptions poisoned the air.

01:41:05Only a few people managed to adapt to such harsh conditions, and you are a lucky duck

01:41:10to be one of them.

01:41:11As you finish your breakfast, you're distracted by another ground tremor.

01:41:15Time to move on!

01:41:17Many people travel around the world alone, as they consider it a safer way of life.

01:41:22Some people form small communes, but no one ever stays in one place for too long.

01:41:27Your whole life is in motion, but you don't panic.

01:41:31One of the main rules during natural disasters is to remain calm, so all survivors have steel

01:41:36nerves and excellent physical training.

01:41:39You run a few miles south and suddenly smell something strange.

01:41:44You put on a gas mask.

01:41:45The earthquake has created a limnic eruption.

01:41:49Natural carbon dioxide is released from the ground to the surface.

01:41:52You feel comfortable in a gas mask, but can't run fast while wearing it.

01:41:57Far up ahead, you see a green forest, a rare place that was not affected by fires.

01:42:03You take off the gas mask and go to the tree to take shelter in the shade from the scorching

01:42:08sun.

01:42:09This green area is rich in vegetation.

01:42:12Colorful flowers, strawberries, and many other berries grow here.

01:42:16But you're concerned.

01:42:17Such fertile land comes from being near volcanoes.

01:42:21It spews underground magma rich in vitamins and minerals, so vegetation grows.

01:42:26You can see a high mountain in the distance.

01:42:29This is the volcano.

01:42:31An underground push occurs again and provokes an eruption.

01:42:35You gather strawberries and run away from this place as far as possible.

01:42:40Lava pours from the volcano's mouth and makes a fire in the forest.

01:42:44You unhook a folding scooter with a motor from your backpack and drive away from the

01:42:48fiery mountain as fast as you can.

01:42:51The sky is covered with volcanic ash, but this is not for long.

01:42:55A strong wind flows, grows with each passing second.

01:42:59You realize a hurricane is moving in your direction.

01:43:03You take out a small shovel and dig a hole in the ground.

01:43:06The soil is dry, but you have enough strength to dig a small ravine in a couple of minutes.

01:43:12You dive into the shelter and cover yourself with a protective tent.

01:43:15The hurricane blows the volcanic ash in different directions, and the air becomes clear again.

01:43:21But the fire doesn't stop.

01:43:23The wind spreads through the forest.

01:43:25You get out of the ravine and put on the gas mask again.

01:43:28There's a lot of smoke around, and it's unbearably hot.

01:43:32You know the hurricane couldn't just appear without any reason.

01:43:36Hurricanes are formed when warm, moist air collides with the sea surface and rises to

01:43:40the sky, so there's water nearby.

01:43:43Great, because you're thirsty and want to cool down.

01:43:46A loud sound erupts behind you.

01:43:49You turn around.

01:43:50A massive wave of water approaches the fire.

01:43:53Without panic, you take your life jacket out of your backpack, remove your gas mask, and

01:43:58put on a diving mask and fins.

01:44:01The wave blows you off your feet, but you don't drown.

01:44:05Over the years of survival, you have learned to swim very well.

01:44:09You grab a passing tree and wait patiently for the flood to be replaced by another natural

01:44:14disaster.

01:44:15For 5 minutes, you sail under a black stormy sky that sparkles with lightning.

01:44:21Despite the waves, you try to row south.

01:44:23It's getting pretty cold.

01:44:25You finally see the shore.

01:44:27But this is not land, but ice.

01:44:30A strong wind brought a cold cyclone, which caused a fast temperature change.

01:44:35It's like you're in Antarctica.

01:44:37Snow and blizzards are all around.

01:44:39It's freezing, but you take out a thin space blanket made from foil and walk slowly south.

01:44:46Under your clothes, you put crumpled paper, bubble wrap, pieces of cotton.

01:44:50All this also helps to warm your body.

01:44:53Along the way, you collect several bottles of snow to melt later.

01:44:57Icicles form on your face, and you can't see because of the snowstorm.

01:45:02Suddenly, the snow begins to squish under your feet.

01:45:05The ice melts and turns into water.

01:45:08A hot stream of air blows into your face.

01:45:11You find yourself on hard, dry ground, looking up at the sky.

01:45:15Then at your watch, 5 minutes pass, and the sky is again covered with black clouds.

01:45:22You take a metal plate out of your backpack and cover your head with it.

01:45:26A few seconds later, you are hit by heavy rain and hail.

01:45:30Giant balls of ice knock on the metal shield, but you go calmly and even with a smile on

01:45:35your face.

01:45:36The ground becomes wet and loose from icy rocks.

01:45:40When the hail ends, you pull out all the heat-insulating materials from under your clothes and hide

01:45:45them in your backpack.

01:45:47Then you lay out a few long spokes of steel.

01:45:50The spokes are wrapped with copper wire.

01:45:53You connect the spokes to each other, making one long antenna.

01:45:57You stick it in the ground and run away.

01:46:00After the hail from the rain clouds, lightning strikes the ground.

01:46:04More precisely, it hits the lightning rod you've just built.

01:46:07You wait for the storm to end, then take the lightning rod apart and return it to your

01:46:12backpack.

01:46:13An intense heat begins.

01:46:15You drink some melted snow and break your way through the desert.

01:46:19The Earth trembles, and your adventure begins again.

01:46:22Earthquakes, carbon dioxide, fires, floods, snowfall, tsunamis, lightning, and again and

01:46:28again and again.

01:46:30With the help of a compass, you continue your journey and reach your goal a few months later.

01:46:36You see a long antenna sticking out of the ground.

01:46:40This is a placemark for entering an underground city.

01:46:43The city is built from dozens of massive bunkers connected to each other by tunnels.

01:46:48The city walls don't allow radiation to pass through, and they don't bend from daily

01:46:53earthquakes.

01:46:54People learn to extract energy from the ground.

01:46:57The Earth's core gives heat.

01:46:59This heat boils water, then steam is formed, and electricity is created at special stations.

01:47:05People get water from underground lakes and rivers.

01:47:09Instead of the sun, ultraviolet lamps are installed everywhere, which provide people

01:47:13and plants with necessary light.

01:47:16Natural disasters happen on Earth every 5 minutes.

01:47:19But humanity still has a lot of space underground.

01:47:24The largest tree in the world is so massive, it even earned itself the nickname General

01:47:29Sherman.

01:47:30It stands tall in California's Sequoia National Park, stretching its branches at 275 feet

01:47:36toward the sky.

01:47:37That's almost as tall as the Statue of Liberty.

01:47:40As for its weight, if we could place it on a scale, we'd need 400 elephants to balance

01:47:45things out.

01:47:47Its base stretches 36 feet in diameter, big enough to hide two sedans parked end-to-end.

01:47:54California is the last place on Earth where these colossal trees grow naturally.

01:47:59During the Ice Age, they flourished across North America and Europe, but as the glaciers

01:48:04retreated, so did the sequoias.

01:48:06Today, they thrive along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Range, relying on the

01:48:11melting glacier caps to quench their thirst.

01:48:14General Sherman gathers thousands of visitors every day, and the park's infrastructure

01:48:19caters to this.

01:48:20There's a short half-mile walk from the nearest parking lot that leads to the big

01:48:25green giant.

01:48:26Along the way, a stone marker outlines the shape and size of the tree's base, to give

01:48:31visitors a sense of its immense scale.

01:48:35This sassy sequoia is estimated to be around 23-2700 years old and has witnessed centuries

01:48:42of change.

01:48:43It sprouted during the early days of the Roman Empire.

01:48:47When Europeans arrived in California in the late 1800s, they first tried to harvest the

01:48:52sequoias, thinking they had valuable wood.

01:48:55However, the sheer effort required to take down these giants was enormous for those days.

01:49:01They also soon figured out that this type of wood was a bit more brittle than expected,

01:49:06so they let these trees off the hook.

01:49:09As for its name, the tree shares it with General William Tecumseh Sherman, a 19th-century famous

01:49:15American public servant.

01:49:17Not far from General Sherman stands the world's second-largest tree, named General Grant.

01:49:23Discovered by locals years before General Sherman received its name, this tree has weathered

01:49:28its own share of challenges, including fires.

01:49:31But like its counterpart, it survived, mostly thanks to its thick bark and resilient hardwood.

01:49:38As for the oldest tree, for a long time, we've known it to be a Great Basin bristlecone pine

01:49:44named Methuselah, also found in California.

01:49:47It's been around for more than 4,800 years, way before the Egyptians built the Pyramids

01:49:52of Giza.

01:49:53This tree's location is a bit of a secret to keep it safe from harm.

01:49:57Now, Methuselah and its friends grow way up high in California, Nevada, and Utah, where

01:50:03it's tough to survive.

01:50:05The place is cold, with dry soil and fierce winds, but these strong timbers have figured

01:50:10out how to thrive, getting their nutrients from the hard, rocky ground up in the mountains.

01:50:15Their branches are twisted and gnarled because of the winds blowing in all directions as

01:50:19they reach maturity.

01:50:21It does make their appearance a bit messy, but it's an added layer of resistance for

01:50:26those trees during powerful storms.

01:50:29Their roots only feed the branches right above them, so if one part of the tree's roots

01:50:33fades away, only that part of the tree will be affected.

01:50:38There's a new contender, however, for the same title of the oldest tree.

01:50:42In Chile, there's a Patagonian cypress called Gran Abuello, which means Great Grandfather

01:50:48in Spanish.

01:50:49It might even be older than Methuselah, by about 500 years.

01:50:53This would mean this tree has seen people roaming around during the Bronze Age.

01:50:58To figure out a tree's age, we generally need to look inside its bark and count its

01:51:03rings.

01:51:04For the Gran Abuello, though, scientists use complex math to estimate how old it is.

01:51:09Some experts aren't convinced by this method just yet.

01:51:13No matter which tree is older, both Methuselah and the Gran Abuello have seen a lot of changes

01:51:18in their long lives.

01:51:20Each ring in their trunks holds info about the weather from the year it grew.

01:51:25Scientists can learn a ton about past climates on our planet by studying these ancient trees.

01:51:31The world's tallest tree is also off-limit to visitors, but this is a recent safety measure.

01:51:37Its name is Hyperion and it's located in Redwood National Park, California.

01:51:43Standing at a towering 380 feet, Hyperion is a coastal redwood, taller than the length

01:51:49of an American football field.

01:51:51Named after a character in Greek mythology, Hyperion was discovered in 2006 by two researchers.

01:51:58The park is home to other incredibly tall trees like Helios and Icarus, both also reaching

01:52:04heights of over 370 feet.

01:52:07The impressive height of redwoods in Northern California is due to their leaves and the

01:52:12region's climate.

01:52:13These trees absorb and store moisture from morning fog, and their sprouts promote growth

01:52:19after injury, allowing them to live for a very long time.

01:52:23However, their shallow roots make them susceptible to damage from hikers.

01:52:28Besides being a record holder, Hyperion's appearance may not live up to the hype.

01:52:33Witnessing its towering height from the ground is hard, and its trunk isn't that impressive.

01:52:38Hyperion is currently tucked away in a closed-off section with no official trail.

01:52:44But despite this, many tree enthusiasts have trampled through over the years, harming the

01:52:49habitat leading up to it.

01:52:51Trash has also been found along the way in the past.

01:52:54The park recently issued a statement urging visitors to steer clear of this tree, otherwise

01:52:59they could face hundreds of dollars worth of fines and even end up behind bars.

01:53:05The Tree of Life stands as a resilient symbol amidst the arid desert landscape of Bahrain.

01:53:11Nestled in the highest point of the country, this ancient tree defies odds, captivating

01:53:16visitors with its mysterious and inexplicable presence.

01:53:20It's surrounded by endless stretches of heated dunes in the Arabian desert.

01:53:25Because it stands alone against the desert backdrop, it has puzzled scientists and botanists

01:53:30for years.

01:53:31There's little to no rainfall over there.

01:53:34There are also no freshwater sources nearby.

01:53:37Despite the lack of moisture, the Tree of Life insists on flourishing, flaunting its

01:53:42green foliage.

01:53:43How it manages to survive in such harsh conditions led to some weird theories.

01:53:48Some speculate that the tree's roots go deep into the earth, reaching depths of up

01:53:53to 160 feet to access underground water reserves.

01:53:57Others suggest that the tree has adapted to its environment, drawing moisture from the

01:54:01surrounding sand grains through specialized mechanisms.

01:54:05One other interesting idea is that the Tree of Life lies at the side of the legendary

01:54:10Garden of Eden, getting its water from a mystical source.

01:54:14Apart from its scientific and cultural significance, the Tree of Life is an important tourist attraction

01:54:20for locals, luring in approximately 65,000 visitors each year.

01:54:25All for a tree.

01:54:28Poland has its fair share of trees worth mentioning, all gathered in the Crooked Forest.

01:54:34It's a group of 400 trees that bend strangely.

01:54:38They all have a similar shape, curving sharply toward the sky in little J-shapes, almost

01:54:43touching the ground.

01:54:44People have different ideas about why these trees look like that.

01:54:48Some think a heavy snowstorm covered them when they were young, pushing them down.

01:54:53Others believe the area's gravity might have affected how they grow.

01:54:57One interesting theory is that people who planted these trees back in the 1920s might

01:55:02have bent them on purpose.

01:55:04They wanted to use the curved shapes to expedite the furniture manufacturing process.

01:55:10So when the trees were about 10 years old, they interfered with their growth, making

01:55:14them develop in this odd shape.

01:55:17After the manipulation process was stopped, it left the trees in this weird position for

01:55:22decades.

01:55:23Either way, whatever happened to one tree happened to them all because they're all

01:55:27adjusted in the same way.

01:55:29So human intervention is the most likely explanation.

01:55:33Even though all the trees in the Crooked Forest look the same with their spooky bend,

01:55:38they still manage to grow tall and healthy.

01:55:40They've adapted to their difficult conditions, and somehow, they've managed to keep growing

01:55:46upwards.

01:55:47You're hiking in the wilderness, looking for a safe spot to set up camp.

01:55:52All you can hear are leaves and branches crackling under your footsteps.

01:55:56Some squirrels are running up a tree over there.

01:55:59But suddenly, something unexpected happens.

01:56:02You notice something weird in the distance in between the trees.

01:56:05It kind of looks like a concrete structure of some kind.

01:56:09Weird.

01:56:10At this point, you're at least 20 miles deep into the woods, and there are no nearby

01:56:14towns or villages, as far as you know.

01:56:18So you decide to go off the trail with your friends to get a closer look.

01:56:22But as you get nearer, you realize that it's leading to… nowhere.

01:56:27Hmm, what's it doing here, in the middle of literally nowhere?

01:56:31And it doesn't even lead to anything!

01:56:34You put on your Sherlock Holmes cap and investigate.

01:56:37So, maybe there used to be an old house or mansion here that collapsed over the years,

01:56:43and the only thing left is a staircase?

01:56:46But weirdly enough, after circling the bizarre structure, you realize there's no trace

01:56:52of any ruins or even foundations.

01:56:54It's like someone just sliced a staircase off their house, cake-style, and plopped it

01:57:00here, for no reason.

01:57:01Okay…

01:57:02You and your friends aren't really into getting a whole lot closer.

01:57:07Something feels wrong.

01:57:09The longer you look at this weird structure, the more you feel a super creepy presence.

01:57:15Something tells you you should probably leave the area as fast as possible.

01:57:20As weird as this sounds, discoveries of random staircases illogically found in the woods

01:57:25are surprisingly common.

01:57:28Some are made of wood, others of brick or stone.

01:57:31Some look ancient, while others look like they were finished yesterday.

01:57:35The one thing they all have in common – they all lead to absolutely nowhere, and they're

01:57:40all found in super mysterious locations.

01:57:43One of the most famous ones is in Chesterfield, New Hampshire.

01:57:47A long medieval-looking staircase, made of stones with Roman arches in the middle of

01:57:52the woods.

01:57:53It's believed to have been part of Madame Antoinette Sherry's castle.

01:57:58She was a big singer back in Paris.

01:58:00The castle dates back about 100 years, and it was later discovered again in 1962.

01:58:06This time, there was nothing but a staircase.

01:58:10Another mysterious ancient staircase dates back to 9,000 years ago.

01:58:14It's in a forest in Italy.

01:58:17It looks like a series of stairs that lead to a tiny platform at the top.

01:58:22Now why go through all the trouble of building the thing if it leads to… nowhere?

01:58:27Well, some scientists think it could've been some sort of ritual tower.

01:58:31But your guess is as good as theirs.

01:58:34There's an anomaly in the Indian Ocean, known as the Indian Ocean Geoid Low, or IOGL.

01:58:42It produces the largest distorting natural gravitational force in the world.

01:58:47Heavy mineral deposits, many deep-sea trenches, and magma reservoirs disturb the magnetic

01:58:52field in this area.

01:58:54This gravity changes in different places around the planet.

01:58:58It allows researchers to look for patterns and figure out what's happening beneath

01:59:02the surface.

01:59:04Higher gravity fields usually mean denser materials below, and vice versa.

01:59:09Some scientists believe that the anomaly might be a dent in the planet's mantle that is

01:59:14working its way up to the crust.

01:59:17The Niihau Island actually rejects the fruits of today's advancements.

01:59:22There are no cars in sight since the locals get around on foot or by bicycles.

01:59:28No wonder their legs have great definition.

01:59:31They thrive without running water, internet, or shops.

01:59:35The only school on the entire island is powered by solar energy with a backup generator.

01:59:40And what's awesome is that it's the only school in the state that's powered by the

01:59:44sun.

01:59:45Being a resident of the island, the local explains some ground rules the permanent residents

01:59:50must abide by.

01:59:52If they do break these rules, they can be evicted.

01:59:57Not far from Bangkok, in northeastern Thailand, there's a 75-million-year-old rock formation.

02:00:04These rocks look like three whales swimming together.

02:00:07The beautiful design created by nature became known as Three Whales Rock.

02:00:13Millions of years ago, this area was just a desert, but the land was changing.

02:00:18Gradually, sandstone got pulled apart by the movements of tectonic plates and erosion.

02:00:23That's how these spectacular formations were created.

02:00:27If you decide to explore this system of trails around Three Whales Rock, you'll find waterfalls

02:00:33and an abundance of fauna and flora there.

02:00:37Located on Gamal and Gaiden peninsulas, these expansive pit holes were discovered in 2014.

02:00:43They seem to be still changing and evolving.

02:00:46The pits grow wider, and people find them more often.

02:00:49Of course, there's no shortage of theories about how they appeared.

02:00:54Suggestions range from meteorite impacts to the activity of other civilizations.

02:00:59But the most common explanation is that methane gas reacted to water molecules after the planet's

02:01:05permafrost started to melt.

02:01:07This resulted in bubbles of methane bursting through the ice.

02:01:10The craters could be thousands of years old, but nobody knows for sure.

02:01:16You're driving to the state of New Mexico, to the small town of Taos.

02:01:21Two percent of the locals hear a strange buzzing in the air every day.

02:01:26Some residents believe the sound is somehow connected with technologies used by guests

02:01:31from other galaxies.

02:01:34Also there is a theory that something sinister lives in the town.

02:01:38They say Taos is cursed.

02:01:40An evil spirit or a phantom punishes people for something their ancestors did in the past.

02:01:47Scientists still can't explain the nature of this sound.

02:01:50Another theory says it's caused by unusual acoustics of the location, while others think

02:01:55the buzzing is a hallucination.

02:01:58Some can hear it because everybody talks about something, and our minds create an illusion

02:02:02of the sound that doesn't really exist.

02:02:05The sound isn't the same for everyone either.

02:02:08For some, it's a low hum.

02:02:10For others, it's more of a buzzing sound.

02:02:13But this is not the only place where you can hear the strange noises.

02:02:17It's called the hum, and people worldwide claim to have heard it.

02:02:21Some dwellers of a small village in Scotland describe it as a low, thick hum.

02:02:27Well, some residents of Florida heard a similar sound too.

02:02:31It's not exactly known where this phenomenon appeared, but the first time the media started

02:02:36talking about it was in the 1970s in England.

02:02:39Also, there are written records of a mysterious buzzing dating back almost 200 years.

02:02:46According to some estimates, only about 2% of people on the planet can hear the hum.

02:02:51Perhaps their ears pick up some low frequency waves, or the reason is something else entirely.

02:02:57Maybe, just maybe, they hear humming because the person doing it doesn't know the words

02:03:03to the song.

02:03:04Yeah, that joke is also 200 years old.

02:03:08A volcano in Indonesia spews bright blue lava and produces electric blue and purple flames.

02:03:16This phenomenon occurs because the volcano has some of the highest levels of sulfur in

02:03:21the world.

02:03:22You can also know you're near it by its foul stench.

02:03:25But I digress.

02:03:28And when sulfuric gases interact with scorching hot air and get lit by the molten lava, they

02:03:33turn blue.

02:03:35You can also find the world's largest acid lake inside this crater.

02:03:39Yep, it's a real stinker.

02:03:43Underwater rivers and lakes are called brine pools for a reason.

02:03:47High salinity makes the water in them denser than the seawater around.

02:03:51That's why it sinks to the bottom, forming rivers and lakes.

02:03:55Those have waves of their own, and these waves can sometimes lap up against the shorelines.

02:04:01If you went down there in a submarine, it would easily float on the surface of a brine

02:04:05pool.

02:04:06But without a submarine, swimming in such a lake would be too risky.

02:04:10They contain too much toxic methane and hydrogen sulfide.

02:04:13Yeah, I'd pass on that too.

02:04:16But hey, be my guest!

02:04:18Cave of Crystals in Mexico is home to the world's most unique crystal formations.

02:04:24Thanks to super-rare conditions in the cave, crystals there grow to unbelievable sizes.

02:04:29The air inside is incredibly humid.

02:04:32The water contains tons of minerals that boost the growth of the milky white giants.

02:04:37Some of them are longer than telephone poles.

02:04:41Cylindrical snow doughnuts occur when a wind gust starts to roll some snow across a snowy

02:04:46area, as if making a snowball.

02:04:49If it was a real thing, it would eventually become too heavy for the wind to move.

02:04:54But a snow doughnut's center is hollowed out.

02:04:57This happens because its inner layer is too thin and is blown away when the doughnut is

02:05:02formed.

02:05:03This makes the thing lighter than a snowball.

02:05:05That's also why it rolls further.

02:05:07Unfortunately, snow doughnuts are rare because they need very precise conditions to appear.

02:05:14The Danikil Depression in Ethiopia is probably one of the most bizarre-looking places you'll

02:05:19ever see.

02:05:21It's dotted with neon-colored hot springs, lava pools, and vast salt flats.

02:05:26But you've gotta be especially careful there.

02:05:29Toxic gases are swirling over hydrothermal fields, and many pools are super-acidic.

02:05:35So don't go swimming.

02:05:37Until at least 30 minutes after lunch.

02:05:39Just kidding.

02:05:41And finally, there's nothing mysterious about 28,000 rubber ducks found in the sea in 1992.

02:05:48That's when a ship transporting bath toys got lost in the ocean while traveling from

02:05:53Hong Kong to the US.

02:05:55Some of these ducks are still floating in the ocean several decades later.

02:05:59They've been spotted in South America, Alaska, Hawaii, and even Australia.

02:06:05And they make bath time lots of fun.

02:06:07Ooh, rubber ducky!

02:06:10That's it for today!

02:06:16So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your

02:06:21friends!

02:06:22And if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!

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