26 Mysterious Raining Blobs in 1994
In 1994, Oakville, Washington, experienced the bizarre phenomenon known as “Raining Blobs.” Gelatinous blobs fell from the sky, initially believed to contain human white blood cells. Although this claim was later debunked, the blobs’ origin remains a mystery.
27. On July 15, 1972, Furnace Creek in Death Valley, California, recorded a ground temperature of 93.9°C (201°F), one of the highest ever measured on Earth.
28. The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa volcano was so loud that people heard it over 3,000 miles away-the equivalent of hearing a sound from Ireland while standing in Boston. The explosion ruptured the eardrums of sailors more than 40 miles away, and the resulting eruptions and tsunamis killed over 36,000 people.
29. In 2007, Siberia experienced an unusual snowfall-orange snow. Scientists determined that a massive sandstorm in neighboring Kazakhstan likely caused the event. Tests revealed high concentrations of sand, clay dust, and iron particles, which had been carried into Russia’s upper atmosphere before falling with the snow.
30. The deadliest blizzard in recorded history struck Iran in early February 1972. Over five days, 26 feet of snow buried the region, killing 4,000 people and wiping 200 villages off the map.
31 Laki Eruption’s Deadly Fallout
The deadliest volcanic eruption in recorded history occurred in 1783 when Iceland’s Laki volcano erupted. Its effects killed 25% of Iceland’s population, at least 23,000 people in Britain, and many more across Europe. The eruption triggered a year of freak weather and may have caused a famine in Egypt that wiped out one-sixth of its population.
32. A “zud” is a Mongolian term for extreme winter weather that devastates livestock and causes famine. In 2010, a zud caused by arctic oscillation resulted in prolonged winter which killed 8 million animals, severely impacting Mongolia’s economy and food supply.
33. The year 1816 became known as “The Year Without a Summer” after the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia. The resulting climate disruptions led to widespread crop failures, forcing Joseph Smith to leave Vermont-a journey that ultimately led to the creation of The Book of Mormon. Meanwhile, persistent rain in Switzerland kept Mary Shelley indoors, where she wrote Frankenstein.
34. The Great Smog of London in 1952 killed 4,000 people in just four days, as a dense mix of fog and coal smoke engulfed the city. An estimated 100,000 people fell ill due to the toxic air. This thick, yellowish “London Fog” was nicknamed “pea soupers”. The last major fog occurred in 1962, after which the Clean Air Act significantly improved air quality.
35. Between July 25 and September 23, 2001, heavy downpours of red-colored rain fell sporadically across Kerala, India. Known as the Kerala red rain phenomenon, this mysterious event baffled scientists, with early theories suggesting the presence of extraterrestrial or biological particles.
36 Ball Lightning’s Unexplained Glow
Ball lightning, once dismissed by scientists until the 1960s, is an unexplained phenomenon in which glowing spheres of light appear during thunderstorms. Reports suggest they can move unpredictably, hover, or even pass through walls. Only in recent years have scientists begun serious studies on the phenomenon.
37. A brutal heat wave in 1936 killed 5,000 people across the United States in just one week. Michigan alone lost 570 lives, including 364 in Detroit. The heat was so intense that newborn infants died in delivery rooms while doctors and nurses collapsed from exhaustion.
38. In 1888, Nebraska schoolteacher Minnie Freeman saved all her students after a freak blizzard struck. As winds tore the roof and door off the schoolhouse, she tied the children together with a rope and led them over a mile through whiteout conditions to the nearest farmhouse.
39. In 1900, a Category 4 hurricane tore through the Bahamas and headed toward Texas. Cuban weather stations warned the U.S. Weather Bureau that the storm was moving west, but officials ignored them, insisting it was heading north. The hurricane made landfall in Texas, killing up to 12,000 people-the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history.
40. A massive dust storm in 2009 blanketed Australia, stretching over 300 miles (480 km) wide and 600 miles (965 km) long. The skies turned blood red, forcing airport closures across multiple states. The dust eventually traveled across the ocean and reached New Zealand.
41 The Blizzard That Needed Dynamite
The Blizzard of 1949 was a massive winter storm that created 30-foot snowdrifts, 60 mph winds, and temperatures as low as -40°F. The snow was so deep and compacted that crews had to use dynamite to free trapped trains.
42. Corn plants release thousands of gallons of water into the air each day through transpiration. This process can significantly affect humidity levels and even influence local weather patterns in the Corn Belt.
43. A derecho is a widespread, long-lived windstorm associated with a fast-moving cluster of severe thunderstorms known as a mesoscale convective system. These storms are extremely dangerous, producing hurricane- and tornado-force winds, heavy rain, and flash floods.
44. Recently declassified military documents revealed that a solar storm during the Vietnam War detonated U.S. Navy mines. Scientists warn that space weather events like this could have severe consequences on modern infrastructure.
45. During World War II, an Edinburgh derby (a soccer/football match) was played in such dense fog that neither the commentator nor the spectators could see the game. The commentator was forbidden from mentioning the fog in case German forces were listening, so he improvised a fake play-by-play. Meanwhile, the real match ended 6-5.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
46 The Great Blizzard of 1888
The Great Blizzard of 1888 was one of the most severe blizzards in American history. It dumped up to 50 inches of snow across multiple states, paralyzed transportation, and destroyed 200 ships along the East Coast.
47. Every year, about 88 million pounds (40,000 metric tons) of cosmic dust rain down on Earth. This dust, produced by asteroid collisions and comet debris, is negligible compared to Earth’s total mass of approximately 6,000 billion billion metric tons.
48. At any given moment, approximately 2,000 thunderstorms are occurring around the world.
49. In 1955, a thunderstorm in Belgium triggered the detonation of 40,000 pounds of buried explosives left over from the World War I Battle of Messines. Fortunately, the only casualty was a single cow.
50. ‘Lluvia de Peces’ (Rain of Fish) is an annual weather phenomenon in Yoro, Honduras, where hundreds of fish reportedly fall from the sky. This bizarre event has allegedly occurred for over a century.
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.
RE: Fact #41 (The Blizzard That Needed Dynamite) – Back in the 20th century, dynamite solved everything. Blizzard burying everything in hard-packed snow? Dynamite. Whale stuck on the beach? Dynamite.
RE: Fact #5 (Hurricane Camille’s Deadly Rain) – How much rain did we get?
Under 30 inches of rain, but nearly all of it in just three hours, hitting its peak around 10 pm. Most folks were asleep and got no warning.
That bird-drowning thing is false; there’s no proof, and that’s not how birds breathe anyway. Plus, it wasn’t a hurricane anymore—it had weakened to a tropical depression.
What *really* happened were landslides and mudslides. Nelson County was basically wiped out. Over 100 people died from the landslides, mostly blunt force trauma, with some drownings, and there are still unidentified bodies. People often get mudslides wrong. They don’t picture it as a sudden, violent event—but it is. Imagine water carrying mud, trees, rocks, houses, cars—the whole shebang—at 40 mph. It’s basically a solid mass moving like a liquid. They’re not that rare, but this was crazy huge. You can probably still see the bare hillsides in Nelson County. It was so bad that some think the death toll was much higher. Whole families could’ve been swept away without a trace, especially in a rural area with poor records. If a whole valley disappears, who’s going to report who lived there?
By the way, some people here are saying nothing changed after this. That’s wrong. This disaster helped create FEMA, and Virginia now has some of the strictest building codes in the country.
Short version: The total rainfall wasn’t unusual, but the *speed* was. It all happened incredibly fast.
RE: Fact #33 (1816: Year Without a Summer) – Al Gore showed how Japan’s Asama volcano messed up European crops, and the French Revolution followed. Then Jim Cameron pointed out the Syrian drought – nobody’s talking about the crop failures that sparked the civil war and all those migration problems. Climate change is a big deal.
RE: Fact #46 (The Great Blizzard of 1888) – My grandpa had this old school attendance book from the late 1800s – he taught at the school. For this blizzard in 1888, it just says “School cancelled. Blizzard.”
RE: Fact #17 (Record-Breaking Rain in Missouri) – Anyone got a simulation showing what that was like?
I got caught in a crazy downpour once—so heavy I couldn’t breathe, just kept sucking in water! I had to look down and open my mouth, but even then, it filled with water instantly. My waterproof shoes *were* waterproof, but so much water soaked through my socks I had to dump them out like a cartoon when I got home. Seriously, I couldn’t even see the houses across the street.
If that wasn’t even a record, I’d love to see what a *real* downpour is like.
RE: Fact #6 (Dry Thunderstorms and Wildfires) – So, why’s the rain disappearing? Is the Earth hot enough to make water vanish that fast? I’m clearly not the sharpest tool in the shed.
RE: Fact #29 (Siberia’s Strange Orange Snow) – The snow smelled really bad, according to an environmental prosecutor.