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© Mario PappalardoLenticular cloud
Well looking at this one in the sky of Sicily I don't blame ufologists.
Mario Pappalardo captured these insane lenticular clouds at sunset on January 5, 2016 and published them on his Facebook page.
Lenticular clouds in scientific jargon also known as Altocumulus lenticularis are stationary lens-shaped clouds that form in the troposphere.
© USGSThe Holister area had a series of three quakes on Saturday, Jan. 09, 2016. The first of three quakes had a magnitude of 3.2. The epicenter of that quake is shown here
The United States Geological Survey recorded the largest tremor at 2.5 miles from San Juan Bautista at a depth of 3.5 miles. It struck at 9:43 a.m. and was followed by a 2.9-magnitude quake at 9:46 a.m. and the 2.6-magnitude jolt at 9:49 a.m.
Photos of rare blue and yellow light pillars snapped by Stockholmer Raitis Freimanis have gone viral in Sweden
When Raitis Freimanis, 54, got up early on Wednesday morning in Bromma, Stockholm, he discovered something unusual outside his window. Several tall columns were shining up from the ground, radiating yellow and blue light.
"I was thinking what the hell is this? At first I thought it was a floodlight or something, I thought to myself, why would they put up a floodlight at 5am?" Freimanis told The Local on Thursday.
The Stockholmer said he had been woken by the family's cat and had decided to go and feed the animal. And after seeing the magnificent strange pillars, he ended up getting his son and wife out of bed to see them too, in case they didn't appear again.
Together the family researched what they had seen. They believe that the lights were an optical phenomenon caused by the reflection of bright lights from Stockholm city centre, by tiny ice crystals, hovering in the air.
"It was -13C here in Stockholm and windless, and there were ice crystals in the air," Freimanis explained, adding that it was hard to judge the height of the pillars. The fact that the lights were yellow and blue - the colours of the Swedish flag - appears to have been a coincidence.
© Raitis FreimanisMysterious light pillars appeared in Stockholm, Wednesday morning.
"I was thinking what the hell is this? At first I thought it was a floodlight or something, I thought to myself, why would they put up a floodlight at 5am?" Freimanis told The Local on Thursday.
The Stockholmer said he had been woken by the family's cat and had decided to go and feed the animal. And after seeing the magnificent strange pillars, he ended up getting his son and wife out of bed to see them too, in case they didn't appear again.
Together the family researched what they had seen. They believe that the lights were an optical phenomenon caused by the reflection of bright lights from Stockholm city centre, by tiny ice crystals, hovering in the air.
"It was -13C here in Stockholm and windless, and there were ice crystals in the air," Freimanis explained, adding that it was hard to judge the height of the pillars. The fact that the lights were yellow and blue - the colours of the Swedish flag - appears to have been a coincidence.
© Raitis Freimanis
© Barbara Navrot
Ottawa residents looking up on Tuesday morning were treated to an unusual weather display: a very bright sundog - or "phantom sun" - that lit up the sky.
Sundogs, also known as parhelia, look a bit like a winter rainbow. They only appear in very cold weather, according to David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada."It's really a textbook example," he said, adding that clear conditions on Tuesday morning made the sundogs especially vibrant.
Parhelia appear when sunlight interacts with ice crystals high in the atmosphere, creating two "mock suns" and a faint halo.
"Sometimes they were regarded as a forewarning of troubled times: a harbinger of foul weather. So there's some folklore that goes with them as well," Phillips said.
On Tuesday, the sight didn't generate any worry or fear about bad omens - just excitement from local photographers.
"I've seen sundogs before but never to that extent," said Barbara Havrot, a math teacher and hobby photographer who managed to snap an early-morning photo."This was a complete arch, like a huge rainbow, in all its glory," she said.
© Danielle Richardson
This comes a day after a heavy downpour following a dry spell claimed nearly seven lives in the capital Lusaka. A building on the outskirts of the city's Central Business District also collapsed, but there were no casualties.
The Seismological center of Fars province affiliated to the Geophysics Institute of Tehran University registered the quake at 00:14 hours local time.
The epicenter of the quake was registered at 53.5 in longitude and 27.4 in latitude.
There has yet been no report on the possible number of casualties or damage to properties by the quake.
Iran sits astride several major faults in the earth's crust, and is prone to frequent earthquakes, many of which have been devastating.
© Idaho Fish and GameThis Dec. 30, 2015, photo released by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG), shows a deformed mountain lion with teeth growing out of its forehead. Biologists are trying to determine what caused the strange growth on the animal, which was legally killed by a hunter in southeast Idaho near the Utah border.
The cougar was shot near Weston by an unidentified hunter and appears to have a separate set of teeth growing out of its head. It's simply something Fish and Game biologists have never seen before.
There's no clear consensus about what the abnormality is, but there are a few theories.
First, it could be a teratoma, a rare type of tumor capable of containing hair, bone, teeth and even parts of limbs or organs.
© Karen Winship/ York Weather StationAwesome Mammatus clouds over Clifford’s tower in York.
Watch some amazing pictures and learn more about their formation below.
Mammatus are pouch-like clouds that protrude down from the bottom of a thunderstorm's anvil cloud.
© Russ @Alien_OrificeAnd with the light of the sun setting, these weird clouds are become magical.
© Bedford Police DepartmentBackhoe in sinkhole
Bedford police shut down roads near Wiggins Avenue after a water main break caused a 10-foot-wide sinkhole on nearby Summer Street that partially consumed a backhoe heading toward the scene.
No one was injured during the incident after the water main break washed away much of the ground beneath the pavement.
"I guess it gave way and engulfed one of those backhoes," Bedford police Sgt. Ron Undzis told the Boston Globe.
