Wild nature

Are fire tornadoes a real thing? Yes! And so are these other phenomena!

Credit: NOAA

You know the rain and the snow. You even know tornadoes, hurricanes, and the green lights in the North. But the weather can be crazier, much crazier than that! Would you believe us if we told you fire can become a tornado or that dust can make cities disappear? When combining the four elements, anything can happen, and we’ve gathered some of the craziest weather phenomena for you here!

Credit: Mark Fletcher-Brown

Imagine a tornado picking up flames instead of debris. That’s a fire whirl, a spinning column of fire that can reach hundreds of feet high during wildfires. It forms when intense heat pulls air upward and the wind twists it into a vortex. Two of the worst and most destructive things together, we don’t need to explain the kind of consequences this unusual phenomenon leaves behind!

Credit: Irham Setyaki

If you’ve ever seen photos of a giant wall of dust swallowing a city, that’s a haboob. You can double-check, but indeed it says "swallow a city"! These massive dust storms often appear in desert regions like Southern America or northern Africa. They happen when cool air from a thunderstorm rushes down and pushes up dirt and sand, creating a thick rolling curtain of dust. The best way to handle one? Head inside and let it pass, but never try running away from it. There’s no outrunning a haboob.

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You feel the tiny drops of water falling from the sky, but you look at the floor and it’s completely dry. What’s going on? That’s virga, a ghostly phenomenon where the raindrops evaporate before they land. It looks like silky streaks hanging from the clouds, a bit like the sky is trying to rain but changes its mind halfway down. This disappearing act happens when the air below the cloud is too dry. Don’t worry, it’s innocent, just a little bit annoying.

Credit: Susan Wilkinson

Tornadoes aren’t just a land thing (or a fire thing for that matter!), they can show up over water too. Waterspouts look like watery funnels rising from the sea, and while they can be dramatic, most are harmless and short-lived. Warm, humid air rising from the surface spins into a twisting column, pulling a bit of water mist with it. Sailors used to think they were sea monsters, but today we know better. Still, it’s not something you’d want to see from your fishing boat.

Credit: Marc Szeglat

An erupting volcano is already scary enough, but when lightning starts flashing inside the ash cloud, it’s a spectacle. The bursts of electricity come from bits of rock and ash rubbing together and building up charge. Since volcanoes are hard to study up close, scientists are still learning exactly how this works.

Credit: 泽浩 梁

If you’ve ever looked up on a cold night and seen glowing columns stretching toward the sky, you’ve spotted light pillars. They’re not UFOs; they’re ice crystals catching and reflecting light from the ground or the sun. Each tiny crystal acts like a little mirror, turning reflections into tall shimmering towers of color. They’re most common in freezing weather. Have you ever seen this?

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Every so often, the wind gets artistic and rolls snow into little white doughnuts. These rare creations, called snow rollers, need just the right mix of conditions: Sticky snow, a smooth surface, and a steady breeze. The wind pushes bits of snow along the ground until they curl up into round, hollow shapes.

Credit: Wolfgang Hasselmann

Deep in the woods on a cold, damp night, you might find what looks like fine white hair growing on dead branches. That’s hair ice, and it forms thanks to a fungus that lives in rotting wood. The fungus releases chemicals that shape ice into thin, silky strands. They are so delicate, they melt at the first touch of sunlight. It’s one of nature’s quietest and most beautiful tricks.

Credit: Stijn te Strake

At sunrise or sunset, look opposite the sun and you might spot a dark blue band climbing or sinking along the horizon. That’s Earth’s own shadow. Above it, a pinkish glow called the Belt of Venus often appears, reflecting the last bit of sunlight. Together, they make one of the simplest yet most breathtaking sky shows.

Credit: Jakob Owens

If you’ve ever seen a rainbow-like halo around your shadow while standing above the clouds, you’ve witnessed a glory. It happens when sunlight bounces around inside tiny water droplets, splitting into soft rings of color. When that halo surrounds your shadow on mist or fog, it’s called a Brocken spectre, and it can make you look enormous. Early mountaineers used to think they were seeing spirits. Turns out, it was just their own reflection in nature’s mirror.

Superstitions that still make us knock on wood

Ten common superstitions and their surprising origins

We're rational adults living in the 21st century. We have smartphones, streaming services, and GPS navigation. Yet somehow, when a black cat crosses our path, we still feel that little twinge of "uh oh." Let's explore ten classic superstitions that continue to haunt (and amuse) us today.

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Drop a mirror and watch it shatter? Congratulations, you've just signed yourself up for seven years of misfortune—or so the superstition claims. This belief dates back to ancient times when mirrors were rare, expensive, and thought to reflect your soul. Breaking one meant damaging your very essence, which would take seven years to "regenerate." That's quite the warranty period for your spiritual well-being.

Credit: Jilbert Ebrahimi

See a ladder propped against a building? Better walk around it unless you want bad luck following you home. This superstition actually has some practical roots—walking under a ladder is genuinely dangerous since paint cans, tools, or clumsy workers could fall on your head. But the mystical explanation is even more interesting: a ladder against a wall forms a triangle, which represents the Holy Trinity, and walking through it was considered a sign of disrespect to the divine.

Credit: Kristin O Karlsen

In medieval Europe, these sleek felines were associated with witches and dark magic, making them the least popular pet choice for the superstitious. Cross paths with one, and you were supposedly inviting misfortune into your life. Never mind that black cats are just regular cats with darker fur—superstition doesn’t care about logic.

Ironically, in some cultures, black cats are considered good luck, which must be very confusing for the cats themselves. Are they harbingers of doom or furry little fortune cookies? It all depends on which side of the ocean you're standing on.

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Popping open an umbrella inside the house is a big no-no in the superstition handbook. The origins of this belief are a bit murky, but one theory suggests it offended the sun god to use a shade-providing device indoors, where the sun doesn't shine anyway. Another explanation is more practical: early umbrellas had stiff springs and metal spokes that could genuinely hurt someone or knock over valuables when opened in tight spaces.

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Say something good about yourself—"I haven't been sick all year"—and watch yourself immediately reach for the nearest wooden surface. The ritual supposedly prevents your boastful words from jinxing you and attracting bad luck's attention. Its origins trace back to ancient tree-worshipping cultures that believed spirits lived in wood and could offer protection if properly acknowledged.

The best part about this superstition is how flexible it is. Can't find real wood? Knock on your head (insert your own joke here). Some people tap twice, others three times—there's no official protocol, which is refreshing in the otherwise rigid world of superstitions.

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This superstition combines two separate fears: Friday was considered unlucky because it was the day of Jesus’s crucifixion, and the number 13 has been deemed unlucky for various reasons, including being one more than the "perfect" dozen. Put them together, and you’ve got a day so notorious it inspired an entire horror movie franchise.

The funny thing is, there’s no statistical evidence that more bad things happen on Friday the 13th than on any other day. Yet hotels often skip the 13th floor (jumping from 12 to 14), and some airlines avoid having a 13th row.

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Knock over the salt shaker at dinner, and tradition demands that you immediately toss a pinch over your left shoulder. Why? Because the devil was supposedly lurking behind your left shoulder, waiting to cause mischief, and throwing salt in his eyes would temporarily blind him. Salt was once incredibly valuable—Roman soldiers were even paid in salt, giving us the word "salary"—so spilling it was genuinely wasteful and considered an invitation for bad luck.

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"Find a penny, pick it up, and all day long you'll have good luck"—but only if it's heads up. If it's tails up, some versions say you should flip it over for the next person or leave it alone entirely. This is one of the more optimistic superstitions, suggesting the universe occasionally scatters small fortunes in our path. Given that a penny is worth one cent, the universe isn't exactly being generous, but it's the thought that counts.

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When someone sneezes, we automatically say "bless you" or "gesundheit" without really thinking about why. The tradition supposedly started because people believed your soul could escape through your nose during a sneeze, or that the sneeze temporarily stopped your heart, leaving you vulnerable to evil spirits. By blessing the person who sneezed, you were offering spiritual protection during this brief moment of weakness. It's surprisingly dramatic for such a common bodily function.

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Ever notice how someone playing poker, bowling, or trying any new activity for the first time often experiences unexplainable success? That's beginner's luck, the superstition that newcomers are temporarily blessed with good fortune, perhaps because fate wants to encourage them to keep trying. It's a convenient explanation for why your friend, who's never bowled before, just rolled a strike while you, the experienced bowler, keep hitting the gutter.

Of course, there are practical explanations: beginners aren't overthinking their moves, aren't burdened by bad habits, and aren't feeling pressure to perform. But where's the fun in that? It's much more entertaining to blame supernatural forces for our defeats.