Posts Tagged ‘nature’
On the evening of March 31st, 2009, Tim Tevebaugh was driving home from work east of Craigmont in the southern Idaho Panhandle. Across the rolling hay fields, Tim saw a very usual phenonmena. The snow rollers that he took pictures of are extremely rare because of the unique combination of snow, wind, temperature and moisture needed to create them. They form with light but sticky snow and strong (but not too strong) winds. These snow rollers formed during the day as they weren’t present in the morning on Tim’s drive to work.
Based on estimations from Tim as well as the blades of grass in the picture, most of the snow rollers were about 18″ in height, while the largest rollers were about 2 feet tall.
Source: National Weather Service Forecast Office
No, those aren’t UFO’s, they are multilayered lenticular clouds. Moist air being forced to flow upward around mountain tops can create lenticular clouds. Water droplets condense from moist air cooled below the dew point, and clouds are opaque groups of water droplets. Waves in the air that would normally be seen horizontally can then be seen vertically, by the different levels where clouds form. On some days the city of Seattle, Washington, USA, is treated to an unusual sky show when lenticular clouds form near Mt. Rainier, a large mountain that looms just under 100 kilometers southeast of the city. This image of a spectacular cluster of lenticular clouds was taken last December.
It’s usually a sign of rain within 24 hours because typically the moist flow that precedes a storm around here is the perfect set up for these clouds.
Here are some more from various sources:
A new study from the National Academy of Sciences outlines grim possibilities on Earth for a worst-case scenario solar storm.
Damage to power grids and other communications systems could be catastrophic, the scientists conclude, with effects leading to a potential loss of governmental control of the situation.
The prediction is based in part on major solar storm in 1859 caused telegraph wires to short out in the United States and Europe, igniting widespread fires.
It was perhaps the worst in the past 200 years, according to the new study, and with the advent of modern power grids and satellites, much more is at risk.
“A contemporary repetition of the [1859] event would cause significantly more extensive (and possibly catastrophic) social and economic disruptions,” the researchers conclude.
Read the entire article on FOXNews.
I had never even heard of an umbrella tree until I ran across this. Look how each of the blooms resemble tiny umbrellas.
This collection of images was originally posted on Listropolis.
Apparently the largest ever hand-dug excavation in the world, this 1097 meter deep mine yielded over 3 tons of diamonds before being closed in 1914.
A glory hole is used when a dam is at full capacity and water needs to be drained from the reservoir. This is the ‘Morning Glory Spillway’ at Monticello dam, and it’s the largest in the world of this type of spillway, its size enabling it to consume 14,400 cubic feet of water every second.
This is supposedly the largest man-made excavation on earth. Extraction began in 1863 and still continues today, the pit increasing in size constantly. In its current state the hole is miles deep and 2.5 miles wide. Employing 1,400 people, 450,000 tons (408 kt) of material are removed from the mine daily. Electric shovels can carry up to 56 cubic yards (43 m³) or 98 tons (89 t) of ore in a single scoop. Ore is loaded into a fleet of 64 large dump trucks which each carry 255 tons (231 t) of ore at a time; these trucks cost about US$3 million each. There is a five mile (8 km) series of conveyors that take ore to the Copperton concentrator and flotation plant. The longest conveyor is 2.5 miles (4 km) long and passes through an existing railroad tunnel inside the mine.
This incredible geographical phenomenon known as a blue hole is situated 60 miles off the mainland of Belize. There are numerous blue holes around the world, but none as stunning as this one. It is one of the most astounding dive sites to be found anywhere on earth. The Blue Hole is a perfectly circular limestone sinkhole more than 300 feet across and 412 feet deep.
Mirny Diamond Mine holds the title of largest open diamond mines in the world at 525 meters deep and a diameter of 1200 meters. There’s even a no-fly zone above the hole due to a few helicopters having been sucked in.
The mine is so huge and the area so remote that it has its own airport with a runway large enough to accommodate a Boeing 737.
After rumbling for weeks, part of a poor Guatemala City neighborhood plummeted some 30 stories into the earth swallowing a dozen homes and killing at least 3 people. Sinkholes can occur when underground rocks that can be dissolved by water—such as salt, gypsum, and limestone—are inundated. The removal of groundwater can also leave gaps underground that can lead to sinkholes.
Did you like this? If so, please bookmark it,I stumbled across the following collection of gorgeous winter settings.
It’s amazing how beautiful these trees are in the snowy Winter. The air looks so crisp and clean.
Jacek Stefan (top), Unknown (above)
