Check the best places and times for observing unusual weather

Weather and natural phenomena can be roughly divided into two large groups: common and frequent, and unusual and rare (for most of the world's population).

The first phenomena occur everywhere and all the time, they are familiar to everyone such as wind or rain. The latter happens occasionally or only in certain places, and accordingly are seen by far fewer people. These are northern lights, mirages, local winds... The latter is also generally more beautiful. But at the same time, some of them are destructive forces — hurricanes, snowstorms, volcanic eruptions. (So the question of their beauty is debatable and it is better to observe them from a great distance or to avoid them altogether.)

In this article, we have collected the best places and times to observe the main unusual weather and natural phenomena. For this, we have chosen 20 of 60+ lessons from our own Meteotextbook on better weather forecasting. Click on the links to read the complete articles or subscribe to our newsletter to receive new lessons once a week directly to your email.

Atmosphere

Monsoon rains — North Africa

Monsoon rains are rains that occur during monsoons, the one of the two major types of wind on Earth. They bring record amounts of rainfall and are considered to be the world’s main rains. One of the best places for its observation is the Sahel — a region in North Africa, south of the Sahara Desert. The more affordable place for travel is Mumbai, India, from June to September.

Various rare snow phenomena — Extreme northern and southern latitudes, mountains

Rare snow phenomena are different events other than the usual snow. Such include natural snowmen or snow rollers, penitentes, ice volcanoes, and others. They can occur anywhere, but they require special weather conditions. For example, the latter is underwater that pierce holes beneath the ice shelf, if they are more than a meter high, and the wind is at least 40 km/h.

Slush — Coastal cities in the northern latitudes

Slush is a mixture of snow and water. This very unpleasant weather phenomenon, however, is very familiar to anyone who lives in northern latitudes with a humid climate on the shores of a large lakes, seas, or oceans in such cities as Vancouver, New York, Reykjavík, Stockholm, and Saint Petersburg. If you see slush, don’t forget that it can turn into ice soon!

Trade winds — Between tropical latitudes and the equator

Trade winds are the second of the two main types of winds on Earth. These are constant winds that blow in the same direction all year round, namely from tropical latitudes to the equator. Their trajectory is also influenced by the Coriolis force, so they twist a little clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

Trade winds. Illustration: Valerya Milovanova / Windy.app

Bora wind — Black Sea and Adriatic Sea coasts

The bora is a strong and cold local northern wind, whose speed can exceed 60 m/s with some gusts up to 100 m/s. Such winds are observed in several places on our planet but mostly on the northern coast of the Black Sea and the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea during the winter months. The bora can also be experienced on the shores of large lakes such as Baikal in Siberia.

Polar stratospheric clouds — Norway and other Scandinavian countries

Polar stratospheric clouds (PSC) are another extremely rare phenomenon. They form in the lower stratosphere at an altitude of 15–25 km behind the polar circle at anomalously low temperatures of −78.1 degrees Celsius. People in northern Europe, Greenland, Russia, Canada, and the US have the highest chances to see it right after sunset or right before sunrise.

Tropical cyclones — Atlantic and Pacific oceans

Tropical cyclones are a type of low-pressure weather systems, which occurs in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans during a particular season and brings storms. Depending on the part of the world, they are called hurricanes (the United States and Latin America) — from June to November, and typhoons (Asia and Australia) — throughout the year, but mostly in the same period.

Tornadoes — North America and other places

A tornado is a rotating column of air several hundred meters high, with low pressure at its center. The most violent tornadoes with wind speeds of up to 130 m/s are capable of tremendous damage. Tornadoes occur most often in the United States. As a consequence, in the US “tornado hunting” is popular among scientists and weather enthusiasts from March through July.

Tornado formation. Valerya Milovanova / Windy.app

Sandstorms — China, Mongolia, Africa, and the Middle East

A sandstorm is a windstorm (more than 10 m/s) that lifts a large amount of sand in the atmosphere. Usually, it lasts from a few minutes to an hour. The main areas where sandstorms occur are those that are flat and dry such as US states as Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma, some areas of China, Mongolia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Polar night — Beyond the polar circle and in Antarctica

The polar night is a time during winter when the sun does not rise above the horizon for more than 24 hours. How dark it gets during this period will also depend on how close you are to the north pole. As with the northern lights, there’s also a polar night in Antarctica, but you’re not likely to be on the sixth continent of the Earth anytime soon, right?

Aurora (northern lights) — Beyond the polar circle and in Antarctica

Aurora Borealis is a glow of the upper atmosphere of the Earth (and other planets), which appears due to the interaction of its magnetic field with the charged particles of the solar wind. The closer to the Earth’s magnetic poles — the richer the colors. In Norway, the aurora is mainly greenish, in Canada — red and yellow. It can be observed during the winter, mostly in February and March.

Mirages — Any wide open areas

Mirage is a refraction of light streams at the boundary between layers of air, varying in density and temperature. They occur in various wide open areas such as the Death Valley in the US, the Bolivia Uyuni Salt Flat, and others. You can often see mirages just on any asphalt road. However, true mirages like the famous Flying Dutchman are rare.

Alpenglow — the Alps and other mountains

The Alpenglow is a glow that occurs on the mountain tops and walls, on which this effect is best seen, at sunset or dawn. The glow is orange and pink. In particular, it is best seen in the Dolomite Alps in northern Italy. The best time to see it is in winter from November to April. But it occurs not just in the Alps, but in any other mountains.

Ocean

Gulf Stream — North Atlantic Ocean

The Gulf Stream is one of the main powerful constant warm currents on the planet, which originates in the Gulf of Mexico. From there, it moves north, almost clinging to the east coast of North America, going into the open Atlantic ocean. The Gulf Stream then turns east, towards the UK and the Western Europe. It also often forms vortices with a diameter of up to 200 km.

How the Gulf Stream is formed. Illustration: Valerya Milovanova / Windy.app

El Niño — Eastern Pacific Ocean

El Niño is a mighty weather phenomenon, a warming of the water surface in the eastern Pacific Ocean, i.e. on the west coast of South America, in Peru and Ecuador, which has a significant effect on the climate. El Niño occurs irregularly — two to seven years may pass between the phenomena — and warming-up lasts from five months to two years.

High tides — Bay of Fundy, Canada

Tides are constant fluctuations in the water levels, caused by the gravity of the Moon and the Sun towards the Earth, as well as the rotation of the latter. The highest tides in the world can be observed in the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Canada. Other places with the world's highest tides are Alaska, US; the English Channel, UK, and France; Strait of Magellan, Chile.

Land

Volcanoes — Etna, Sicily, Italy, and other active

Volcanoes are mountains, simply put, from whose summits (crators) hot lava rises to the Earth’s surface from its interior — “volcanic eruption”. The main active volcano in Europe, Etna on the island of Sicily in Italy, erupts about once every three months. In Asia, these volcanoes are Kamchatka in Russia, Semeru in Indonesia, and others.

Namibian Witches’ Rings — South of Africa

Namibian Witches’ Rings are a mysterious natural phenomenon that occurs from south Angola throughout all of Namibia, from where its name comes from, and to the north of South Africa, but also on several other continents in very dry areas far away from civilization. They look like almost perfect circles up to 35 meters in diameter. The origin of the rings is unknown.

Antarctica’s Blood Falls — East of Antarctica

Antarctica’s Blood Falls, if you still do end up on the sixth continent, are “falls”, that look as if the Taylor Glacier in the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Victoria Land, East Antarctica, is bleeding red-brown liquid, which flows in jets to the surface of an ice West Lake Bonney and freezes immediately. The falls bring ancient water to the surface, which for millions of years was in a closed ecosystem.

Outer space

Looking at the stars — Less light-polluted places

The brightest stars such as Sirius, Vega, and Betelgeuse can be seen even in large cities. However, you will not be able to see the sky covered with stars even through a telescope because of artificial light. Instead, go to one of the less light-polluted places: Galloway Forest Park (Scotland), Zselic Starry Sky Park (Kaposvar, Hungary), and others.

The Big Summer Triangle which includes three stars — Vega (from the Lyra constellation), Deneb (from the Cygnus constellation) and Altair (from the Aquila constellation). Illustration: Valerya Milovanova / Windy.app

Text: Ivan Kuznetsov, Windy.app

Cover photo: Patrick Hendry / Unsplash