When can you see two suns, what makes Mount Brocken in Germany remarkable, and when do ice needles fall from the sky?
Above mountain peaks and near ridges, you can sometimes observe stationary clouds resembling UFOs. They are called lenticular clouds.
They form on the crests of air waves or between two layers of air and do not move even in strong winds. Their appearance indicates strong horizontal air currents and high moisture content. Due to optical effects, they can be colored in bright hues ranging from red to green.
During thunderstorms, storms, or blizzards, an electrical discharge in the form of light beams or brushes can occur at the tips of building spires, ship masts, or tree tops. It is called St. Elmo’s Fire, as sailors who encounter this phenomenon at sea perceive the glow as a signal of salvation from the patron saint of sailors—St. Elmo.
The fires look especially impressive during volcanic eruptions, when volcanic ash creates ideal conditions for electrical discharges.
If you’re flying in an airplane or standing on a mountain peak above the clouds with the sun behind you, you can see beautiful rainbow circles. Scientifically, this phenomenon is called “glory,” but the Chinese gave it a second name: Buddha’s light.
The cause is diffraction of light reflected in cloud droplets. Seeing the phenomenon is not easy: the sun must be positioned strictly behind the observer, and ahead must be dense fog or clouds. Interestingly, the size of the rainbow rings directly depends on the size of the water droplets: the smaller they are, the larger the diameter of the glory.
Modern scientists have discovered that glory can occur not only on Earth, but also in the atmosphere of Venus.
If you see two suns in the sky from opposite sides of the horizon, don’t be alarmed: this rare phenomenon is called anthelion. It is caused by the same refraction of light in ice particles contained in clouds.
To see an anthelion, or antisun, ideal conditions are needed: flat hexagonal ice crystals in high cirrus clouds must align like a mirror, reflecting sunlight at a precise angle. Therefore, the phenomenon is best observed in winter, in polar regions, where ice crystals in the air are especially pure and uniform.
Interestingly, anthelion is often accompanied by other atmospheric phenomena—light pillars or parhelia.
When a light ring appears in the sky around the sun, moon, or even a streetlight, many people think of UFOs. In reality, this optical phenomenon is called a “halo.” Historically, it was considered an omen—in 1551, a halo “saved” the city of Magdeburg when the besieging troops, seeing three suns in the sky, took it as a sign from above and retreated.
There are several varieties: a ring, a light pillar extending from the rising or setting sun, or a false sun (parhelion)—the appearance of light spots usually on both sides of the real sun. The cause of the phenomenon is the refraction of light in ice crystals contained in the atmosphere.
Finding yourself on a hill or mountain with your back to the rising or setting sun, you can see not only glory, but also the Brocken spectre—your own shadow enlarged to giant size. The optical effect is explained by the refraction of light in particles of clouds, fog, or flying snowflakes.
The ideal place for experiments is Mount Brocken in Germany, where fogs are common. Local legends say that on Walpurgis Night, witches gather here, and their giant shadows dance in the fog. Scientists, however, explain the frequent appearances of the Brocken spectre by the unique microclimate: warm air currents from the plains collide here with cold mountain winds, creating ideal conditions for persistent fogs.
Interestingly, the Brocken spectre can “come alive”: when the cloud layer is uneven, the shadow sometimes acquires colored halos resembling an aura. And in polar regions in winter, ice crystals in the air can create a pale blue shadow surrounded by a shimmering glow.
People rarely see a round hole in the sky with precipitation streaming from it, and usually greet it with unprecedented excitement, as if it were a UFO or a falling meteorite.
Meanwhile, the phenomenon has a scientific explanation: above a dense layer of clouds at an altitude of 5–6 km above the ground, water droplets form that do not freeze even at –40 °C. When for some reason the cloud layer is disturbed (for example, a plane flies through), a chain reaction occurs: the water droplets crystallize and fly down as ice dust, but do not reach the Earth, turning into gas in the warmer layers of the atmosphere.
Sometimes in frosty weather, not snow or hail can fall from the sky, but ice needles—the smallest ice crystals, so sharp that they can even injure the skin. They form from instantly frozen water droplets and freeze on tree branches and streetlights in the form of picturesque decorations. Typically, this occurs under clear skies.
They are found in Siberia, in the Far North. In 2011, to the surprise of local residents, they fell in Vladivostok.
In tropical countries, extremely rarely, usually before a hurricane, you can observe mammatus, or tubular, clouds with a cellular structure in the sky: they create an unusual wavy pattern in the sky and make you think about their supernatural origin. These clouds can hang in the sky for several hours, gradually changing shape. Pilots note that when flying through them, there is often a sensation of “falling through,” although in reality these are simply zones of reduced pressure.
The phenomenon was named Mammatus clouds and was discovered only 30 years ago. Sometimes these clouds are found in Ukraine, almost always in summer and before a thunderstorm.
Another rare variety of clouds is the morning glory: a long elongated band resembling the trail of a giant airplane and can reach 1000 km in length. Scientists have been studying this natural phenomenon since the 1970s, but still have not found an explanation for the complex movements of air masses that form such storm cells.
The ideal place for observation is the Gulf of Carpentaria in northern Australia.
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