The newest version of The Old Farmer’s Almanac for Kids (available this fall everywhere!) gives us a look at some strange weather occurrences you may not believe, or ever want to experience.
Weird Weather
Spider Riders:
The Great Cobweb Storm occurred in October 1881, on the shores of Lake Michigan, from Sheboygan to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The sky was thick with white webs, from minuscule pieces to 60-foot-long strands. It is believed that this event was caused by certain species of migratory spiders that cast their silk on a breeze and ride the wind to a new location.
Bugnado Blitz:
In June and July 2011, at around sunset, some folks in Iowa living near the Missouri River noticed “smoky” clouds around treetops, above ditches, and near cornfields. Instead of fog or haze, it was a swirling swarm of bugs! Record flooding that year resulted in an above-normal bug population. The “bugnadoes” occurred for about 2 weeks. Then, it seems, birds and dragonflies had them for lunch.
Apple Crisp:
In the late afternoon of December 12, 2011, more than 100 small apples rained from the sky, striking car windshields and denting automobile hoods along a 60-foot stretch of road in Keresley, Coventry, England. Officials from the British Weather Service concluded that volatile conditions present at the time may have spawned an updraft that blew the fruit off trees or lifted it off the ground and into the upper atmosphere, until turbulent air calmed and the apples fell to Earth.
Fish Fly:
On three different occasions - in 1974, 2004, and 2010 - hundreds of 2-inch-long whitefish have fallen from rain clouds onto Lajamanu, in Australia’s Northern Territory. Officials at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology believe that the fish were transported up by a thunderstorm and carried to altitudes of 40,000 feet or more, before showering down on the small town, which is 326 miles from the nearest river!
To purchase The Old Farmer's Almanac for Kids, Volume 5, click here!
