weather
NOAA's weather satellites are always watching, which means they capture all of the wildest, weirdest weather shots that occur on planet Earth. Check out the round up of the wildest shots and videos NOAA released:

Upward striking lightning

The vast majority of lightning discharges around the world are "in-cloud" or "cloud-to-cloud" and the ones we see appear to strike from cloud to ground. However, "upward propagating discharges," or upside-down lightning strikes, are possible, but extremely rare. When this happens, the lightning strike begins at the ground and then travels up towards the clouds. High-speed camera studies have shown upward lightning flashes to be more common than once thought.


Here's the simple science: these upward lightning strikes usually occur from tall towers, buildings or mountaintops and when there is a rapid change in atmospheric charges-right after a downward lightning strike occurred.

The creation of lightning is a complicated process. We generally know what conditions are needed to produce lightning, but there is still debate about exactly how a cloud builds up electrical charges and how lightning forms. Much has been learned regarding upward lightning, but uncertainty remains regarding the exact triggering mechanism.

Thundersnow

"Thundersnow" is a rare weather phenomena in which thunder and lightning are accompanied predominantly by snow rather than rain. Thundersnow occurs where there is relatively strong instability and abundant moisture above the surface of the Earth, such as above a warm front. The ingredients that create thundersnow are similar to the dynamics of a typical thunderstorm -- moisture, instability, and a lifting mechanism.

Here's the simple science: air is considered unstable if it continues to rise on its own after getting a nudge from a cold front or warm front. This rarely occurs when it's snowing because the air temperature in winter snow storms is consistently cold, at both high and lower points in the atmosphere. However, in some winter storms, shallow layers of warm air are lifted and continue to rise on their own -- increasing snowfall and causing enough electric charge separation for lighting to occur.


In March, the East Coast experienced three back-to-back Nor'easter winter storms within ten days. The NOAA GOES East (GOES-16) satellite Geostationary Lightning Mapper captured the lightning from these events which produced thundersnow. Tracking lightning during a snowstorm is a critical tool to help meteorologists because thundersnow is typically associated with increased snowfall amounts.

(Read more here)