00:00For hundreds of years, people in the U.S. have reported hearing strange, loud booms.
00:10These mysterious sounds are called skyquakes, and yep, it's a real thing.
00:15If you've ever heard a loud, distant booming noise that definitely wasn't a thunderstorm
00:20or a car engine backfire, congrats, it looks like you've experienced a skyquake yourself.
00:27People report them all around the globe, from the U.S. to India and Japan.
00:32They go under different names, and we still don't know why exactly they happen.
00:38Sometimes these booms come together with earthquakes.
00:42People heard them during the New Madrid earthquakes in the early 19th century and up until January
00:472020.
00:49Those who've experienced them describe skyquakes as a rushing or rolling noise.
00:54U.S. American writer James Fenimore Cooper described it more poetically as the lake speaking
01:00to the surrounding hills, which sent back the echoes of its voice in accurate reply.
01:07Sometimes these mysterious booms happen in cold weather instead of during earthquakes.
01:12One of the skyquake hotspots is near Lake Seneca in New York.
01:16They call them the Seneca Guns.
01:19The booms can be so loud that they shake windows and doors.
01:23Back in August 1886, after an earthquake in Charleston, people heard these noises for
01:28several weeks, happening at the same time as many aftershocks from the earthquake.
01:36In 2020, scientists from the University of North Carolina looked at old news pieces,
01:41especially from North Carolina where people have often reported these sounds.
01:46They hoped to match the noises with earthquakes data, but they didn't find any link between
01:51the sounds and earthquakes.
01:53One of the researchers said they believe the noises are happening in the air, not underground.
01:59The team looked at infrasounds, which are low-frequency noises that humans can't hear.
02:04They found signals lasting 1 to 10 seconds that match the times when people reported
02:09hearing the booms, but nothing is certain here.
02:14Some people think that solar flares, underwater tsunamis, or caves collapsing under the sea
02:19cause skyquakes.
02:21Others believe the sounds come from planes making loud sonic booms.
02:25But that doesn't explain old records of skyquakes from the past before planes were even invented.
02:31Some scientists think a type of meteor, called a bolide, causes these booms.
02:37These meteors blow up when they hit Earth's atmosphere.
02:40If this happened above thick clouds, the sound would get louder and travel far, but we wouldn't
02:45find anything on the ground.
02:48Another idea is that gas might be escaping from the bottom of deep lakes, like Lake Seneca.
02:57If you think skyquakes are bizarre, let me introduce you to fogbows.
03:02They also go under the name of white rainbows, ghost rainbows, or cloudbows.
03:07They form in a similar way to regular colorful rainbows, but are much wider.
03:13Rainbows happen when there are big raindrops in the sky, and you can always spot them on
03:17the opposite side of where the sun is shining.
03:21Fogbows are made by tiny droplets in fog, or clouds instead of big raindrops, and they
03:27also appear opposite the sun.
03:30If you want to see a fogbow, you need to look for it in a thin fog when the sun is bright.
03:36You might catch one when the sun starts to shine through the fog, or if you're near the
03:40ocean where fog often forms.
03:44Because the water droplets in fog are so tiny, fogbows don't have bright colors like rainbows.
03:50They might even look all white, or just have faint colors.
03:55Some fogbows are hard to see at first because they blend into the mist, but once you spot
04:00them, they're easy to recognize.
04:04The next rare weather phenomenon you gotta watch out for is thundersnow.
04:09You guessed it right, it's a special type of thunderstorm that happens during a snowstorm.
04:15Unlike regular thunderstorms that often strike in the spring and summer, thundersnow is much
04:20rarer because it happens in the strongest winter storms, like big blizzards, and at
04:25the same time, needs warm air, which isn't a frequent combo.
04:31So for thundersnow to happen, there needs to be moisture in the air, some instability,
04:36and something to lift the air like rising winds.
04:40Just like in normal thunderstorms, lightning can appear when you hear thunder.
04:45Thundersnow lightning usually goes from cloud to cloud instead of hitting the ground, and
04:49the thunder sounds different too, more like a low rumble instead of a loud boom, because
04:54the snow muffles the sound.
04:57You aren't so likely to get struck by it, but it's still important to stay inside when
05:01you hear thunder to stay safe.
05:06Northern Lights fans, this one is for you!
05:10Scientists noticed a new kind of glow in the sky that looked like a purple streak.
05:14They nicknamed it Steve as a joke, but later gave it a more scientific name, Strong Thermal
05:20Emission Velocity Enhancement, Steve for short.
05:24Steve is actually a fast-moving stream of super hot gas that always moves west and only
05:30shows up before midnight.
05:32They wondered if something like Steve could happen after midnight, but moving in the opposite
05:37direction.
05:38And now, scientists think they found the anti-Steve by looking at data from a research station
05:44in Norway.
05:46In December 2021, they took a picture of a bright purple streak stretching for 620 miles
05:52in the sky, and it only appeared after midnight.
05:57Satellites from the European Space Agency also measured the conditions in this part
06:01of the sky and found that the ions were moving eastward.
06:06Steve's late-night twin hasn't been officially named yet, but it would be cool if it was
06:10called Sam, which is short for Steve after midnight.
06:18If you've ever seen snow on a sunny day when falling from the sky without a single
06:22cloud, it must have been diamond dust.
06:25It's a special kind of weather, with millions of tiny ice crystals forming close to the
06:30ground.
06:31These ice crystals float slowly in the air, kind of like how dust floats in your house.
06:37When sunlight hits these crystals, they sparkle like diamonds.
06:41Unlike regular snow, diamond dust can fall from a cloudless sky, which is why they sometimes
06:47call it clear-sky precipitation.
06:50It happens because of temperature inversion.
06:52Normally, it gets colder as you go higher up from the ground, but in a temperature inversion,
06:59the cold air stays near the ground, and warmer air sits above it.
07:04The warm air has more water vapor, and when it mixes with cold air near the ground, it
07:08turns directly into ice crystals, and diamond dust is born.
07:13For this to happen, the air near the ground has to be really, really cold, way below freezing
07:18temperature.
07:20Diamond dust can fall for days, but it's so light that it usually doesn't pile up
07:24on the ground like regular snow.
07:29A fall streak hole, also known as a hole-punch cloud, is next on our list.
07:36This big circular or oval-shaped gap sometimes appears in certain clouds.
07:41These types of clouds float high up in the sky and are often made of tiny water droplets
07:46that are colder than freezing, but they haven't frozen yet.
07:50These special water droplets are called supercooled, and they need a reason to freeze.
07:56Ice crystals give them that reason.
07:59When a plane flies through the cloud, it can bring those ice crystals into the cloud.
08:03Once the ice crystals are there, the supercooled water droplets freeze quickly, get bigger,
08:09and start to fall from the ground.
08:11This creates a hole in the cloud, and as more nearby droplets freeze, the hole gets bigger
08:17and spreads outward.
08:21Any tornado is scary, but a fire tornado takes the horror to a new level.
08:26These bad boys are spinning towers of flame and ash that form when there's extreme heat,
08:32strong winds, and uneven ground.
08:34The intense heat from the fire causes hot air to rise quickly.
08:39Cooler air from the sides rushes in to replace it and creates strong winds.
08:44When winds from different directions meet, it makes the fire spin like a tornado.
08:49It gets stronger and can even create its own weather.
08:53It pulls in flames, ash, dirt, and anything in its path.
08:58The winds can reach speeds of over 140 miles per hour, and these fire tornadoes can last
09:04for more than 20 minutes!
09:07That's it for today!
09:08So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your
09:13friends.
09:14Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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