- 10 hours ago
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- #brightsideglobal
Ever found yourself wandering the city streets at night, gazing up at the skyline and pondering the purpose behind those mysterious red lights adorning the summits of various buildings? You're not alone. In this video, we embark on a quest to demystify the captivating world of red lights on buildings and uncover the secrets they hold. From aviation safety to urban legends, join us as we illuminate the reasons behind these crimson beacons that punctuate the nocturnal landscape. Get ready for an enlightening journey through the unknown as we decode the significance of those red lights on buildings and unveil the stories they silently tell. #brightside #brightsideglobal TIMESTAMPS: 0:01 Red lights on buildings 10:27 The Northern Lights 18:25 Dangerous lights This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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00:00Ah, the big apple at night. New York, New York, the city that never sleeps. How can they? There are
00:07way too many lights. But I want to talk about these ones, the red ones. Here's what they look like
00:13if you come closer.
00:14These red lights are a must, and they're called aircraft warning lights. They're mounted on the top corners of tall
00:21buildings to ensure there's no risk that an aircraft will collide with them.
00:25The lights are visible for miles around the structure and will signal the passing aircraft that there's a building that
00:32they should avoid. Please.
00:34The lighting standards are set by the International Civil Aviation Organization and are adopted worldwide.
00:41Now they require that all obstacles 148 feet above ground level and taller are marked with warning lights.
00:48In close proximity to an airport, even lower buildings can be illuminated too.
00:53So, any building, towers, electricity pylons, and chimneys will have these lights for safety.
01:00The number of lights and light levels depend on the width and length of the structure.
01:05There are also different types of buildings. Some should be lit only at night, some both during the day and
01:12night.
01:13They can use red or white lights.
01:15For buildings that should only be lit at night with red lights, there must be lights at the 148-foot
01:22level.
01:23Taller buildings should also have lights at the 345-foot level and at 690 feet.
01:29Buildings that must be lit both during the day and night with white lights have them with 345, 690, and
01:371,033 feet.
01:39The first skyscraper in the world is the Home Insurance Building located in Chicago.
01:44It was built back in 1885.
01:47It was a special building constructed using a new method.
01:51Buildings used to be supported by masonry walls, which couldn't be very tall because they would be too heavy.
01:58The Home Insurance Building had a revolutionary design that allowed it to be higher than other structures.
02:03It had an inner skeleton made of steel.
02:06The walls around it could be way thinner than usual, and the whole structure could be higher.
02:12The Home Insurance Building was a 10-story one, standing at 138 feet tall.
02:18Today, it wouldn't even require any aircraft warning lights because it's not even considered that tall.
02:24Still, the building started the new construction era.
02:27It stood strong until 1931, when, together with several other buildings around it, they took it down to construct something
02:34new, the field building that Chicago has now.
02:38In 1931, the year the Home Insurance Building was demolished, the Empire State Building was finished.
02:45It is 1,250 feet tall, like 10 Home Insurance Buildings on top of one another.
02:52That's the construction progress humanity achieved in just 46 years.
02:57The Empire State Building became the tallest one in the world.
03:00Now, long surpassed, it's the skyscraper that held the record for the longest time, for 39 years to be exact.
03:08In 1970, the World Trade Center became the highest one, although it was just 100 feet taller.
03:15Now, a bit more than a half a century later, the Empire State Building is ranked 53rd on the list
03:21of the tallest buildings.
03:23Humanity climbed way higher.
03:25Now, the world champ is Burj Khalifa, located in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.
03:31The building was finished in 2010.
03:34It's 2,717 feet tall.
03:37More than two Empire State Buildings on top of one another.
03:41Skyscrapers are often made of glass for several reasons.
03:45First of all, they can press glass in every shape possible.
03:48So, the skyscraper can no longer just be a plain, boring tower as before.
03:53They can design it in any fancy shape as they do around the world.
03:58Second, the glass is thin.
03:59There's no need for thicker walls like pre-home insurance building times.
04:04The walls are thinner, and the floors are bigger, providing more inner space.
04:09Glass is also pretty light and allows to make the building very high.
04:13Transparent glass reduces the need for electrical lighting inside the building, so it's also very cost-effective.
04:20Even more, glass is temperature and weather-resistant.
04:24And finally, it just looks posh, fancy, and modern.
04:28Compare this and that.
04:30The latter definitely looks more futuristic and cutting-edge.
04:35Skyscrapers started out in the United States, but became very popular in Asia, which now has over 7,500 skyscrapers.
04:43The skyscraper is now a construction that is 492 feet tall and higher.
04:49Nine out of ten tallest buildings in the world are located in Asia.
04:53The country with the most skyscrapers is China, with more than 3,000 of them.
04:58Asia has the largest population in the world, and its economy is booming.
05:03So, growing high happened to be a perfect solution to fit the most people in its cities.
05:09The second most skyscraper-populated continent is North America, with more than 1,000 skyscrapers.
05:16New York alone has more skyscrapers than all of Europe combined.
05:20And here comes my next question.
05:22Why doesn't Europe build skyscrapers?
05:25There are just 250 of them there, and half of them are located in just three cities.
05:30Moscow, in Russia, Istanbul, in Turkey, and London, the UK.
05:36Let's go back to the beginning.
05:37And that is the end of the 19th century, when skyscrapers' history starts.
05:42The first skyscrapers were built in the United States.
05:45As an independent country, the United States of America was just one century old back then.
05:51They built cities from scratch.
05:53There was a lot of available land.
05:55People could build a house here, and here, and also over there.
05:59By that time, Europe had been growing for a while already.
06:03The history of Paris dates back to 259 BCE.
06:07It wasn't one century old, but 20 centuries old.
06:11German Cologne was founded in 38 BCE.
06:14Rome, Italy's capital city, dates back to 753 BCE.
06:20So it was 26 centuries old back then.
06:23By the end of the 19th century, Europe had been pretty much built.
06:28There was not much extra room for construction,
06:30and no one wanted to take down the Colosseum and put up some fancy skyscraper instead.
06:36This is history, and Europe likes to preserve history.
06:39There was no practical reason for changing things.
06:42The driving force of Asian and American skyscrapers was the booming city population,
06:48and especially rapid urban development of city centers.
06:51As people were moving to the city from the suburbs,
06:54they needed more floors to accommodate more people on a limited territory.
06:59In Europe, despite the population growth and city migration,
07:03there was still enough room for everyone.
07:06The Europeans are very protective of their city skylines.
07:09One interesting story of Brusselsization takes us to Brussels, the capital of Belgium.
07:15In the 1960s, there were no zoning regulations,
07:19and some buildings in Brussels were demolished
07:21to make room for more modern ones to develop business districts.
07:26Uncontrollable construction started,
07:28and modern buildings were built in random places around Brussels.
07:31They had no cultural or historical value,
07:34and they didn't fit in the city's architecture at all,
07:38messing up the city's image.
07:39Many architects and other people protested,
07:42and new laws were introduced,
07:44restricting the demolition of buildings of historical importance
07:48and taking construction under control.
07:51Other European countries learned from Belgium's mistakes.
07:54People across Europe still dislike modern structures.
07:57Many cities adopted zoning regulations,
08:00and building a fancy glass skyscraper in Europe isn't that easy.
08:05Still, cities with big financial centers,
08:07like London, Moscow, Frankfurt, or Istanbul,
08:11require commercial space.
08:12So, in some cities,
08:14there are several skyscrapers somewhere outside the historic center,
08:19forming separate skyscraper districts.
08:21And then there's Role.
08:23It rejects any skyscrapers completely,
08:26stating there will never be a high rise there.
08:29Some other Italian cities follow in its footsteps,
08:32willing to preserve their historical image.
08:35But there's more to it.
08:37It's not just people and cultural preservation.
08:40Building a skyscraper in Europe
08:42isn't as easy as in North America
08:44for engineering reasons as well.
08:46For example, Berlin, the capital of Germany,
08:49is built on muddy ground going down about 260 feet.
08:53That's the height of a 20-story building.
08:56Without firm ground,
08:58a tall building can't stand on the surface safely.
09:01Hey, ever play Jenga?
09:03Yep, it's kind of the same, only in real life.
09:06Building something really tall requires a lot of groundwork.
09:10Plus, it can be risky.
09:12That's another reason for the lack of skyscrapers,
09:14in addition to the attempts to preserve history.
09:17And now, let's play.
09:19I'll show you several city skylines,
09:21and your task is to guess which city it is.
09:24Off we go.
09:25Here's the first one.
09:27Very easy.
09:28What do you say?
09:29Of course, this is New York.
09:31How about this one?
09:33It's Hong Kong, China.
09:35This is the city with the largest number of skyscrapers in the world.
09:39It has 517 skyscrapers,
09:42twice more than all of Europe.
09:44Okay, let's move on.
09:45What city is this?
09:47This is Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
09:50By the way, this is what the city looked like in 1990,
09:54before they found oil.
09:55Yep, it's the same city.
09:57And yes, it's just a 30-year difference.
10:00Can you recognize this one?
10:03It's good old Chicago, the toddlin' town.
10:06What's next?
10:08It's Frankfurt, Germany.
10:10Okay, a couple more.
10:12You can make it.
10:14That's Istanbul, Turkey.
10:16And the last one for you.
10:17It's easier.
10:18I'm sure you'll recognize it.
10:20Yes, that's Melbourne, Australia.
10:23G'day, mate.
10:26Bright, colorful flashes of pink and green light up the sky.
10:29You're watching it from your backyard in Pennsylvania.
10:32That's not something you're used to,
10:34but it's very likely to happen more often in the near future,
10:37as the northern lights are shifting south.
10:40Northern lights, or auroras,
10:42appear as a result of solar storms.
10:45The sun is a huge ball of molten gases that are constantly moving,
10:49so such storms aren't rare.
10:51Our star produces a huge amount of energy that goes our way.
10:55It travels as electrical charges at the speed of about 3 million miles per hour.
11:00No big deal.
11:01When all those tiny particles from the sun reach Earth's atmosphere,
11:05they give some of the energy to atoms and molecules in its upper layer.
11:09The atoms and molecules can't hold it and give it off as light.
11:12You can see it as spectacular auroras around the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres.
11:19If you were watching them from space, they'd look like large ovals.
11:23The brightness, colors, and shapes auroras take depend on the altitude where the lights are formed
11:28and what particles take part in the process.
11:31In the northern hemisphere, locations like Alaska, Canada, and much of Scandinavia
11:36normally get to see the brightest lights.
11:39The biggest solar storm ever was recorded in 1859,
11:43and it was so powerful that the northern lights were spotted in Cuba and Honolulu,
11:48and southern lights were seen as far up as Santiago, Chile.
11:52In latitudes like that of New York,
11:54people were able to read newspapers in the dark under those northern lights alone.
11:59If something similar happened today,
12:01it would have caused 1 to 2 trillion dollars in damage.
12:05With solar activity and pressure from the solar winds increasing,
12:09the aurora belt's borders are currently shifting south.
12:12Solar activity goes in cycles, each of them 11 years long.
12:16We're now in solar cycle 25, which started in December 2019,
12:20and will reach its maximum strength between November 2024 and March 2026.
12:27So, geomagnetic storms will become stronger and probably even reach G5 levels.
12:33Those levels are their strength ratings.
12:35For you to see the northern lights south of the Great Lakes,
12:38a storm must be rated at least G3.
12:40G5 storms will be able to produce auroras that will even reach Florida.
12:46In case you don't want to wait for the sun activity to peak in 2025,
12:50head north if you're in the northern hemisphere,
12:52or south if you're in the southern hemisphere.
12:55Auroras down there are known as the southern lights,
12:57or aurora australis.
13:00It doesn't have to be cold for you to see the northern lights,
13:02it just has to be dark.
13:04Auroras are active throughout the year.
13:07You can't see them from April to August in the northernmost parts of the world
13:11because it's light, 24-7.
13:13It's also important that there isn't any precipitation or clouds in the sky.
13:17Those will block your view.
13:19Light pollution won't help either, so move away from any cities.
13:23Try to get to an elevation to maximize your chances of spotting the lights.
13:28They can appear in a whole variety of colors, including white-gray.
13:32The green-yellow part you're most likely to imagine while thinking of the lights
13:35is just the easiest to spot with an unaided human eye.
13:39Sometimes you might not see the lights at all,
13:41but your camera will still catch them.
13:44They might seem dangerously close to Earth,
13:46but the closest the northern lights ever get to us is 50 miles.
13:50For comparison, planes normally fly at around 6 miles above the surface,
13:55and that already seems like a lot.
13:56The distance from Earth defines the color of the auroras.
14:00When atoms giving us this spectacular show collide closer to Earth,
14:04you can see blues and violets in the sky.
14:07Green and red auroras are born further away from our planet.
14:11Earth isn't the only planet to have northern lights.
14:14Jupiter and Saturn both have strong magnetic fields,
14:18and scientists spotted auroras up there using the Hubble Space Telescope
14:22and the Cassini and Galileo spacecraft.
14:25It looks like Saturn's auroras are also caused by solar winds,
14:29but it's not so clear about Jupiter.
14:31Despite what you can often see online,
14:34the northern lights aren't going to disappear altogether.
14:37Once the sun passes its activity peak and becomes less active,
14:40both the northern and the southern lights will happen less frequently,
14:44but will still be gorgeous.
14:46Another beautiful rare phenomenon is called the green flash.
14:50It happens shortly after sunset or before sunrise
14:53when the sun is almost entirely below the horizon,
14:57and the Earth's atmosphere bends and scatters light from it.
15:00People mostly spot it over the ocean.
15:03It can also be yellow, blue, or purple.
15:07About once a year, you can spot a rare firenado in the U.S.
15:12Fire tornadoes start when a strong wind picks up heat from a fire.
15:16They are made of a flame or ash.
15:19They're different from regular tornadoes because they don't start from cyclones.
15:24Firenadoes are about as tall as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
15:28Unlike firenadoes, fire rainbows or rainbow clouds don't cause any damage at all
15:33as they don't have anything to do with fire.
15:35You can only see them when the sun is very high in the sky,
15:38and its light is passing through ice clouds, so they're pretty rare.
15:43The rainbow halos are just as unique.
15:46Again, it takes a specific type of ice crystals in the clouds of the surface of the Earth
15:51to bend light from the sun into a perfect ring.
15:54The same thing can happen with moonlight.
15:56The only difference will be that the moon halos are usually white,
16:00and sun halos can be rainbow-colored.
16:03A white rainbow is another rare illusion,
16:06this time created by fog and water.
16:09Like a usual rainbow, it's formed when light is shining through droplets of water.
16:13It loses color because fog droplets are hundreds of times smaller than those of rain.
16:18A white rainbow is sometimes mistaken for a moon bow.
16:22You can spot this one at nighttime as the moon illuminates it.
16:26That's why it's not so bright.
16:29If you ever see an upside-down rainbow in the sky, that's a circumzenithal arc.
16:34It's not really a rainbow, but a kind of halo like those around the sun or the moon.
16:39This optical phenomenon is caused by ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.
16:44You have the best chance to see a circumzenithal arc when the sun is rather low in the sky.
16:51It happens super rarely, but it can rain without a single cloud in the sky.
16:55It's sometimes called a sun shower,
16:58because it looks like the rain is falling straight from the sun.
17:01In reality, rain clouds are at a distance from that specific location.
17:05With sun rays being angled, the clouds become out of sight.
17:09Then, it takes just a little wind to blow the rain in your direction.
17:14If you ever travel to regions with high altitudes,
17:17you might see something called penitentes.
17:19Those ice spikes form only in a really cold and elevated environment,
17:24where the air is dry.
17:26The sunlight turns ice directly into vapor instead of melting it into water.
17:30That's why these blades of snow and ice up to 15 feet tall
17:34start to pop up on the surface of the Earth.
17:37One of the rarest types of clouds is lenticular clouds that look like giant mountain hats.
17:44They're formed when moist air travels over a mountain or a mountain range
17:48and gets into an area of turbulence.
17:52Volcanoes can produce bolts of lightning.
17:54They're formed in columns of volcanic ash through friction and static electricity
17:59to connect the positively and negatively charged particles.
18:02To understand how it works,
18:05you can rub a balloon across your hair or your feet across a carpet
18:08and then touch a metal doorknob.
18:11Once a year, just for a few moments,
18:14a waterfall in Yosemite turns into a fireball.
18:17In winter and early spring,
18:19two streams flow down El Capitan Mountain
18:22in perfect conditions in February
18:24when the sun is hiding behind the horizon.
18:27It gets into the right position to reflect off the wall
18:30and color the water into fiery orange.
18:34Let's head to the Middle East.
18:35There's a large desert here,
18:37and it's completely dark,
18:39except for one spot.
18:40It's a big circle that glows with a bright orange light,
18:44the Darvaza Crater.
18:46And it's just a giant gas burner.
18:49Years ago, geologists found gas here,
18:52and they started mining for it.
18:53But when they excavated,
18:55they came across a void underground.
18:57The void collapsed,
18:59and it formed a crater.
19:01It's as wide as half a soccer field
19:03and as deep as a five-story building.
19:07Gas began to come out of the cracks in the crater.
19:09And since animals were often grazing near this place,
19:13the geologists decided to set these gas streams on fire
19:16to exhaust the source.
19:18Geologists thought the fire would be over in a day or two.
19:21But if you come here now,
19:23you'll see this gateway to the underworld is still burning,
19:27and it's been going on for almost 50 years.
19:30In 2013,
19:32a man descended to the bottom of the burning crater
19:35for the first time.
19:36He collected many different samples there,
19:38and scientists were able to find bacteria
19:41that aren't found anywhere else on Earth.
19:43They're quite comfortable at the bottom
19:45of this endless burning frying pan.
19:48In 2009,
19:50a man in L'Aquila, Italy,
19:52saw flickering lights dancing above the stone street.
19:55He immediately knew what to do
19:58and moved his family to a safer place.
20:00Only seconds later,
20:01a massive 8.3-magnitude earthquake hit the whole region.
20:06His knowledge of the strange lights
20:08saved his and his family's lives.
20:10So what are those mysterious warnings?
20:13For centuries,
20:15people interpreted the lights as something otherworldly.
20:18The scientific community didn't take them seriously.
20:21Just put them down to a false recollection,
20:24a mind trick,
20:25or pure imagination.
20:26With the introduction of surveillance cameras and smartphones,
20:30the amount of evidence grew enormously.
20:33Now the connection was obvious.
20:35Lights appear,
20:36and an earthquake hits.
20:38So,
20:39experts finally started taking it seriously,
20:41and started digging for the truth.
20:43But after years of research,
20:46to this day,
20:47geologists are still not fully sure
20:49what the source of the lights is.
20:51But they have recognized five types of them.
20:54Bright flashes that light up the sky,
20:56looking like storm lightning,
20:58or a strong camera flash.
21:00Rays in the sky that can look like light columns.
21:03Different sized flames that come through the ground.
21:06Diffused glows over the mountains.
21:09And slow-moving balls of light
21:11that can be misinterpreted as ball lightning.
21:15Another equally little understood atmospheric phenomenon.
21:18These are literal balls of lightning
21:20that can float and explode,
21:23leaving a sulfuric odor behind.
21:24But unlike ball lightning,
21:27these spherical EQLs seem to be harmless,
21:30if you don't count what's coming afterward.
21:33But with all these types of lights,
21:35experts can't know how exactly they're connected to earthquakes.
21:39They don't only show up before one hits.
21:41Some have been reported during and after earthquakes.
21:45They can also appear with other phenomena,
21:47like meteorite crashes,
21:49volcanic eruptions,
21:50or auroras.
21:52For now,
21:53scientists can only come up with theories
21:55to explain the unexplainable.
21:57One of the recent ones
21:59claimed the lights were electric lines
22:01being broken during an earthquake.
22:03But this theory doesn't explain
22:05how the phenomena was observed
22:07hundreds or even thousands of years ago.
22:09Like the ancient Chinese tale
22:12of dragon-looking clouds
22:13appearing in the sky
22:14as a warning of an upcoming quake.
22:17Or how an ancient Roman historian
22:20reported huge flame-like lights
22:22bursting out
22:23just before a huge earthquake occurred.
22:25The electric line theory
22:27was quickly dismissed.
22:29Another theory suggested
22:30it was escaping gas.
22:32During an earthquake,
22:34the underground rocks expand
22:35and shrink under pressure and heat.
22:38This opens and closes
22:39small spaces between them.
22:42Different gases make their way
22:43through these new openings.
22:45Radon, for example,
22:47can get released
22:47during seismic activity.
22:49It can ionize the air,
22:51making it electrically charged.
22:53But radon doesn't do it enough
22:55to create bright sparks of light.
22:57This theory is close,
22:59but doesn't quite hit the mark.
23:01One of the most accepted theories
23:03is that it might be
23:04from electricity traveling up
23:06from underground.
23:07When underground igneous rocks,
23:09ones that form from magma
23:11deep within the Earth,
23:12are under stress,
23:13they release ionized,
23:15or electrically charged, oxygen.
23:18It travels through the surface
23:19and up into the atmosphere,
23:21where it creates
23:22a localized electric field.
23:24That can produce
23:25brief flashes of visible light.
23:27Some aren't even that quick
23:29and can go on
23:30for minutes at a time.
23:32So, there you are.
23:34You've been driving
23:35for hours through the night.
23:37You didn't have any chance
23:38to sleep,
23:39so your mind
23:40is hanging by a thread.
23:41You stop the car
23:43and go out
23:43to stretch your limbs.
23:44And then,
23:45you look up into the sky
23:47and see a beautiful sunrise.
23:49Whoa.
23:50Wait!
23:51There are three suns
23:53in the sky!
23:53You rub your eyes,
23:55but nope.
23:56There are still
23:57three bright stars
23:58in the sky.
23:59No,
24:00our home star
24:01hasn't been torn
24:02into three pieces.
24:03Nor has it been visited
24:04by two other stars.
24:06This is called
24:07a sun dog.
24:08It occurs mostly
24:10during severe frosts.
24:11Small ice crystals
24:13in the sky
24:13bend the light.
24:15As a result,
24:16you may see
24:17three bright spots
24:18in the sky
24:18instead of just one.
24:20This phenomenon
24:21is officially called
24:22a halo.
24:23Usually,
24:24it's just a circle
24:25around the sun.
24:26You can even see
24:27a halo at night, too.
24:29Just look at a street lamp
24:30and you'll see
24:31a bright circle
24:32around it.
24:33Sometimes,
24:34a halo can take on
24:35a fancier shape.
24:37If there's a lot
24:38of ice in the air,
24:39the light is warped
24:40even more.
24:41Just like in a room
24:42with a dozen mirrors.
24:44Then,
24:45the halo can take on
24:46the shape
24:46of a human eye.
24:49Because of this phenomenon,
24:50a false dawn
24:51can occur, too.
24:53While you're looking
24:54at the horizon,
24:54the dawn begins
24:56and the edge
24:57of the sun appears.
24:58A little bit more
24:59and...
25:00Wait.
25:01The sun starts
25:02to just dissolve
25:03in the sky.
25:04After a few moments,
25:05it's dark again.
25:07And only a minute later,
25:08the real sun
25:09shows its face.
25:11It was the same
25:12light curvature effect
25:13you saw before
25:14with the three suns.
25:16Only now,
25:17the light is curved
25:18vertically,
25:19not horizontally.
25:20And instead
25:21of the real sun,
25:22it's reflection
25:23in ice crystals
25:24in the sky.
25:24disappeared.
25:26And now,
25:27moving on.
25:27This cloud looks
25:28like a dinosaur.
25:29And this one
25:30looks like a cat.
25:31And this...
25:33Whoa!
25:33It looks like
25:34these clouds
25:35are falling down!
25:37Oh, phew.
25:38That's just
25:38a mammatus cloud.
25:40Their shape
25:41really makes them
25:41look like chunks
25:42of cloud
25:43about to slam
25:43on the ground.
25:45Well,
25:45that's not going
25:46to happen.
25:47But you better
25:47start seeking cover
25:48anyway.
25:49Such clouds
25:50are a sign
25:51of a severe
25:52thunderstorm coming.
25:53It takes
25:54a lot of
25:54moist air
25:55with ice crystals
25:56at the top
25:56and dry air
25:57at the bottom
25:58to create
25:59such clouds.
26:00Then,
26:01vertical currents
26:02of air
26:02appear between
26:03these layers.
26:04And these currents
26:05make the clouds
26:06take the shape
26:07of a human brain.
26:08Whoa!
26:10And this giant cloud
26:12looks like a dome
26:13that's going to cover
26:13an entire city.
26:15In fact,
26:16that's exactly
26:17what happens.
26:17A huge cloud
26:19covers a large area
26:20and then rains
26:21heavily on it.
26:22Sometimes,
26:23the front of such
26:24a cloud
26:24takes a bizarre
26:25shape,
26:26like in these
26:27pictures.
26:27It looks more
26:28like several
26:29giant spaghetti
26:30clouds,
26:31or even
26:32giant cloud
26:33worms.
26:33This phenomenon
26:34can often be seen
26:36in Australia,
26:36and it's called
26:37morning glory.
26:39It happens
26:40because a strong
26:40wind twists
26:41part of the cloud
26:42on both sides.
26:43And then,
26:44the huge sheet
26:45of air dough
26:46splits into
26:47thick strips.
26:47And sometimes,
26:49you can see
26:50clouds in the sky
26:51made of
26:51birds.
26:53Wow!
26:54That cloud
26:54moves quickly
26:55and changes shape.
26:56It becomes
26:57more transparent,
26:58but then denser
27:00and darker again.
27:01The birds seem
27:02to be involved
27:03in some kind
27:03of dance
27:04or performance.
27:05But they're not
27:06doing it for beauty
27:07or for the crowds
27:08of spectators
27:09gathered below.
27:10They're doing it
27:11for protection.
27:12When birds
27:13group themselves
27:13into such a cloud,
27:14they intimidate
27:16birds of prey.
27:16An eagle
27:18or hawk
27:19would have
27:19a hard time
27:20picking out
27:20a single target
27:21among the endless
27:22number of birds.
27:24And they move
27:25quickly,
27:26covering each other.
27:27Fish are huddled
27:28together in schools
27:29in the same way.
27:30Such a cloud
27:31might just spook
27:32a hungry predator.
27:34Grab some sunglasses
27:35and you're good
27:36to go.
27:37This phenomenon
27:38lasts around
27:3940 minutes.
27:40These clouds
27:41are the same ones
27:42that can cause
27:43a spooky ring
27:44around the moon
27:44at night sometimes.
27:46Nature sends
27:47early signs
27:48of disasters
27:48in many different ways.
27:50J-shaped trees
27:51might mean
27:52there's a landslide
27:53coming.
27:54Since the ground
27:55is moving slowly,
27:56the trees grow
27:57into this super
27:58selfie-able shape.
27:59Try to find
28:00a flat area
28:01and avoid
28:02going near any trees
28:03unless you have
28:04superhuman strength.
28:06Another mystical phenomenon
28:08can be seen
28:08in the desert.
28:10A sand waterfall.
28:11When the wind
28:12brings a lot of sand
28:14to the edge
28:14of the canyon,
28:15it begins to fall down.
28:17Now amplify this effect
28:19100 times
28:19and you get
28:20a sand waterfall
28:21in Saudi Arabia.
28:23It's really like
28:24Niagara Falls.
28:26Only,
28:26there's not a drop
28:27of water.
28:28The locals say
28:29this phenomenon
28:30warns of an impending
28:32sandstorm.
28:33Flooddal
28:34There's no
28:34water.
28:34There's no
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