1 Dark Days of 536 A.D.
In 535-536 A.D., the world experienced extreme weather, including the absence of sunlight and noxious fumes. Scientists have well-documented this event, which is often considered a precursor to the Plague of Justinian. Although its exact cause remains unknown, scientific findings support its occurrence.
2. In 1960, a rare meteorological event, known as “Satan’s Storm,” struck a small town in Texas. Around midnight, a collapsing thunderstorm pummeled the town with gusts exceeding 75 mph, reaching scorching temperatures of 140°F (60°C). The intense storm lasted for four hours.
3. In 1999, a heat wave nearly forced the shutdown of two nuclear power stations near Lake Erie. The lake’s water temperature came dangerously close to the 85°F limit, which could have compromised the cooling systems.
4. Around 234 million years ago, Earth’s climate changed drastically, leading to the Carnian Pluvial Event. This period was characterized by continuous rainfall that lasted for two million years.
5. During Hurricane Camille in 1969, rainfall in Virginia was so intense that birds drowned in trees, and people had to cup their hands around their faces to breathe. The National Weather Service classified it as the “probable maximum rainfall,” which meteorologists calculate as the theoretical upper limit for precipitation.
6 Dry Thunderstorms and Wildfires
Dry thunderstorms occur when most or all of the rain evaporates before reaching the ground. As a result, lightning strikes extremely dry areas, making these storms a leading cause of wildfires.
7. When the deadliest tornado in U.S. history struck Missouri in 1925, it caught people completely off guard. At the time, U.S. weather forecasts had banned the word “tornado” since the late 19th century due to fears of public hysteria. This policy changed after the tornado killed 675 unprepared residents.
8. A dirty thunderstorm occurs when volcanic materials collide as they are ejected from an eruption. These collisions generate positive and negative charges, producing volcanic lightning.
9. In 1908, a meteorite exploded over Russia with hundreds of times more energy than an atomic bomb. The blast leveled 500,000 acres of forest, knocked people over from 40 miles away, and triggered weather anomalies worldwide. For the next few nights, the skies were so bright that people in Asia could read newspapers outdoors. However, no fatalities were recorded, and scientists never found an impact crater.
10. During the 1950s, Texas endured one of the worst droughts in recorded history. Massive lakes and rivers dried up completely, nearly all the grass died, leading to devastating dust storms, and by the end of the decade, 50% of the state’s farming industry had collapsed.
11 Acid Rain’s Crystal-Clear Lakes
During the 1970s and 1980s, dead acidic lakes were common in the U.S., Europe, and Canada due to acid rain. The high acidity killed all microbes and aquatic life, leaving the water crystal clear and making the lake bottom visible.
12. The Great Heat Wave of 1911 began on July 4 in the northeastern U.S. and caused an estimated 6,000 deaths, including hundreds of suicides. To combat the extreme temperatures, New York imported ice from across the country and distributed it for free. The crisis worsened due to heavy clothing styles and the fact that few people knew how to swim.
13. A thunderstorm named “Hector the Convector” forms daily each afternoon from September to March over the Tiwi Islands in Australia. This phenomenon has remained consistent year after year.
14. In 1915, during a historic drought, San Diego hired a “Rain Maker” to bring precipitation. Soon after, excessive rainfall led to floods and even caused a dam to break. However, the city refused to pay him-apparently, he had made it rain too much.
15. In 2016, a single lightning strike killed 323 reindeer in Norway. The animals had clustered together, allowing the electric current to travel through the ground and up their legs, resulting in mass fatalities.
16 UK’s Accidental Cloud Seeding
While experimenting with cloud seeding, the U.K. accidentally triggered a flash flood in 1952 that nearly destroyed a town and caused multiple deaths. The artificial rainstorm turned out to be far more powerful than scientists had anticipated.
17. In 1947, Holt, Missouri, a town with a population of 471, experienced the most intense one-hour rainfall ever recorded worldwide. Within just 42 minutes, 12 inches of rain fell.
18. The longest confirmed lightning bolt occurred in 2020 and traveled 477 miles across 3 states in the USA – Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
19. The coldest recorded temperature on Earth, -144°F, was measured in Vostok, Antarctica. Humans cannot inhale air that cold for more than a few breaths without suffering lung hemorrhages. To survive brief trips outside, Russian scientists wore masks that warmed the air before breathing it in.
20. Thundersnow, as its name suggests, is a rare type of thunderstorm that produces snow instead of rain. These storms bring heavy snowfall, poor visibility, strong winds, and lightning more intense than that of typical thunderstorms.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
21 Australia’s Firestorm Thundercloud
Australia’s 2019 wildfires were so massive that they generated a pyrocumulonimbus cloud-a thunderstorm formed from smoke and fire. This explosive weather event unleashed thunderstorms and ash while devastating tens of thousands of acres.
22. The Catatumbo River basin in Venezuela experiences intense lightning storms, with strikes occurring over 200 times per hour for up to 10 hours straight. This phenomenon happens more than 100 times a year and can be predicted months in advance.
23. In 2017, during Hurricane Harvey, the National Weather Service had to introduce two new colors to its rain accumulation map because the existing color key topped out at an amount of rain they never before thought would fall..
24. In 2010, a heat wave in Russia caused over 1,000 deaths. Many victims drowned after attempting to swim while intoxicated.
25. The asteroid impact that led to the dinosaurs’ extinction ignited 70% of the world’s forests, triggered 300-foot (100-meter) tsunamis, and ejected 25 trillion metric tons of debris into the atmosphere. This debris blocked up to 90% of sunlight for a decade.
RE: Fact #44 (Solar Storm That Triggered Mines) – Seriously, we can’t even take a global pandemic seriously, how are we going to get people to care about invisible space rays?
RE: Fact #45 (WWII Fog Led to Fake Game) – I’m puzzled—why’d the commentator skip over the fog?
During WWII, keeping Germany in the dark about our poor visibility in foggy weather was crucial to avoid a surprise attack.
RE: Fact #26 (Mysterious Raining Blobs in 1994) – Tons of algae are all gooey and stuff. I’m guessing a bunch of it got swept up and rained down.
RE: Fact #13 (Hector the Convector Phenomenon) – So, yeah, I grew up in Darwin during the 70s and 80s and lived through that storm. I had no idea it was a named, long-lasting thing until now.
RE: Fact #34 (Great Smog of London 1952) – My grandma loves telling this story about her sister’s date during the Great Smog. Her aunt spent ages getting ready – makeup, fancy clothes, the whole works. She went out into the smog, and was back half an hour later, covered in blood, her makeup a mess, and her clothes filthy. Turns out she couldn’t see a thing, so she walked straight into a wall, broke her nose ten minutes after leaving, and then spent another twenty minutes finding her way home again. Grandma finds the whole thing hilarious.
RE: Fact #2 (Satan’s Storm Strikes Texas) – Round Rock got hit with a heatwave last summer, and it was over 100 degrees even at midnight.
RE: Fact #38 (Blizzard Hero Minnie Freeman) – The article says it was a warm, sunny summer day. Crazy, right? It’s called the Children’s Blizzard, and it was one of the deadliest in US history – tons of kids died trying to get home from school.
RE: Fact #15 (Lightning Kills 323 Reindeer) – The Christmas massacre.
RE: Fact #39 (The Deadliest U.S. Hurricane) – Everyone messes up. Back in Havana, 1948—the year I was born—the weather service predicted a hurricane would miss the city completely. My dad, an engineer, had this mercury barometer he’d made in physics class. He saw the pressure plummeting, so he got the house ready while everyone else just ignored it. We were fine. It wasn’t the worst hurricane ever, but the eye went right over us.
RE: Fact #11 (Acid Rain’s Crystal-Clear Lakes) – This stuff makes me so mad! Older people complain about the EPA, but they lived through acid rain, rivers catching fire, smog everywhere, lead in paint and gas – they know how incredibly polluted things were, and how much work cleaning it up took. Now that it’s inconvenient *them*, they’re all “Was it really *that* bad? These climate rules are messing with my car and retirement!” Honestly, older generations are so self-centered; we need to get them out of power.
RE: Fact #27 (Death Valley’s Scorching Ground) – Fun fact: Furnace Creek has a golf course – surprisingly lush and green! I stayed there once.
RE: Fact #11 (Acid Rain’s Crystal-Clear Lakes) – Growing up in the 80s, I learned the hard way never to swim in water like that—for good reason! I guess it’s not as big a deal now.
RE: Fact #7 (1925 Tornado and Banned Word) – Ignoring it won’t make it go away, just like sex ed doesn’t stop unwanted pregnancies.
RE: Fact #30 (Iran’s Deadliest Blizzard Ever) – Wow, that’s super interesting! Some stuff I’ve seen on factrepublic is pretty mildly interesting, but this is totally different – it’s really informative about a huge catastrophe. Thanks!
RE: Fact #9 (Tunguska Explosion’s Global Impact) – Some American scientist looked into a place in Israel where a big asteroid exploded. He thinks it’s where Sodom was, and that’s how the Bible story started.
RE: Fact #17 (Record-Breaking Rain in Missouri) – I can’t imagine what a foot of rain in under an hour would be like.
RE: Fact #23 (Hurricane Harvey Redefines Rainfall) – I learned that while watching the flood creep up my yard.