© Megacryometeors.comMegacryometeors
Last week, I was watching a show on the Discovery Channel. It basically talked of a number of strange phenomena or news accounts and one segment in particular caught my attention. That particular segment was about megacryometeors.
Megacryometeors are large chunks of ice that randomly fall out of the sky. It is not known where they come from (for certain) or why they fall at random. What is known is that they can fall anywhere at any time and cause a considerable amount of damage. Even more strange is the fact that they tend to fall from clear skies, rather than during stormy weather.
A megacryometeor can also range greatly in size. Some weigh a mere 6 pounds. Others have tipped the scales at over 400 pounds. They have crashed through homes, totaled cars, and even left small craters in the ground. Some people have even been hit in the head by these random, falling chunks of sky ice, but surprisingly, the impact didn't kill any of them (that I know of).
Originally, it was theorized that these ice chunks were nothing more than waste water or leakage from an aircraft; however, the fact that airplane waste water tends to be blue and the megacryometeors are white or transparent quickly ruled out that theory. The idea that they may also be giant hailstones has also been ruled out. The one theory that does seem to hold some weight, though, is that these megacryometeors may be forming from fluctuations in the tropopause (the atmospheric boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere). It should also be noted that the number of megacryometeor events has drastically increased since 1950. Over 100 cases have been accounted for around the world.
I wouldn't say the world needs to panic yet, but this random event may be cause for concern and definitely needs to be studied further. A falling megacryometeor is, at this point, completely unpredictable. We also don't know what other impact or effect it might have on the environment, or perhaps, what the environment is doing to create these in the first place. If you want to know more, check out these links:
Megacryometeors
Wikipedia: Megacryometeors
Damn Interesting: The Peculiar Phenomenon of Megacryometeors
in the upper atmosphere is at the core of these ice balls.