Strange Skies
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Telescope

Strange skies: Red Sprites in Oklahoma, aurora Steve in Canada, iridescent clouds in Illinois and noctilucent clouds in Denmark

red sprites oklahoma 30th May 2018
© Paul SmithRed Sprite Lightning. May 30, 2018 @ Edmond, Oklahoma, USA
The epicentre of Sprite Alley

Oklahoma is a good place to see sprites. "I photograph them often," says Paul Smith of Edmond OK. "Here are some examples from May 30th flashing above fast-moving storms in the Oklahoma panhandle."

"Venus is the bright 'star' just behind the windmill," he adds.

Oklahoma is the epicenter of a region that we call "Sprite Alley," a corridor stretching across the US Great Plains where intense thunderstorms produce lots of upward directed lightning--a.k.a. "sprites."

Comment: It wasn't so long ago that these strange sights in the sky were considered a rarity, now they're being documented daily. And it's not just up above that we're paying witness to the great changes afoot, it's below too: Also check out SOTT's monthly documentary: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - April 2018: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs


Sun

Icy clouds provide easel for brilliant sun halos over northwest Washington

Sun dogs in NW WA
© Zach Heistand
If you were up early Wednesday morning, you might have been treated to a rather brilliant show in the skies near the sun.

Photos from around the region showed a rather bright halo around the sun, with stunning sun dogs flanking either side and even a tangent arc on the top.

The halos are caused by the ice crystals in those thin, high clouds. The sunlight gets refracted by those ice crystals, making the colors of the rainbow.


Snowflake

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Arctic atmosphere changed, noctilucent clouds and Hawaii eruption hits geothermal well

Drifting snow is piled high on CBC producer David Newell's deck in Gander
© David Newell/CBCDrifting snow in Gander, Newfoundland
Dr Madhav Khandekar expert reviewer for the IPCC says that winters in the Norther Hemisphere are becoming significantly colder and snowier. This Noctiluscent cloud season is a no-show and scientists are baffled as to why nothing is showing over the Arctic. Kilauea eruption lava rivers have reached the Geothermal power station covering one well head and emergency services are waiting to see if the chemicals will blow out the well in an eruption fashion of its own.


Sources

Info

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Signs in the skies of the Eddy Solar Grand Minimum

antisolar arc 2018
© Pål Tengesdal
Signs are appearing our skies that the atmosphere is changing as predicted with the gran solar minimum. Rare anti-solar arcs over Norway, Cyclone over Yemen and Oman, Green flashes in UK and Norway. Hawaii has blue flames as the Earth cracks and methane ignites and CO2 didn't cause warming in 1950-1980 even though it was increasing in concentration. A look at Wheeler's drought clock, another repeating cycle as well the grand solar minimum.


Sources

Galaxy

Photographer captures yet another photo of 'rare' red sprites - in skies above Oklahoma

red sprite TLE Oklahoma May 2018
© Paul SmithCourtesy of dramatic sky photography by Paul Smith on Facebook.
Back in October 2017, EarthSky.org reported that photographer Paul Smith believed he had captured some of the first images of red sprites in Oklahoma. Since then, Smith has captured two more instances of the ethereal high-altitude phenomenon: one on May 12th, 2018, and again today, on May 24th, pictured above. All images have been published on his interesting Facebook group, International Observers of Upper-Atmospheric Electric Phenomena:
Lots of TLEs from Oklahoma tonight. This one stands out as my best to date. 12.55am/6:55 UTC 5/24/2018 looking WNW from north Edmond, Oklahoma. It even has the blue/purple ends on the tendrils
'TLE' stands for Transient Luminous Event, which includes upper-atmosphere electric phenomena known as sprites, jets and ELVES. These high-altitude discharges were once considered to 'possibly occur' because pilots reported seeing them, but meteorologists discounted the idea until 1989 when the first visual documentation was made in support of the claims.

Cloud Precipitation

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Earth's winds and clouds are changing

Up to half a meter of hail was reported in the Mosel region
Up to half a meter of hail was reported in the Mosel region
Earth's winds and cloud patterns are now starting to show definite signs of incredible changes versus what was considered the normal just two years ago. Now every colliding weather front of a record rain downpour, a record hail depth event and a record wind or electrical event. There has been a noticeable change which is affecting crop yields and climate mix-ups are beginning to take a toll. These are a few explanations of how cosmic rays effect our Earth's climate systems with dozens of examples of extremes we are seeing right now. Do you really think a foot of hail in Paris is normal?


Sources

Cloud Grey

Gigantic and unique 'divergent eddy' appears in the sky above Antwerp, Belgium

divergent eddy
© Facebook Weerstation Zoersel & omstreken
In the north of the Belgian province of Antwerp, clouds turned into one great swirl on the evening of Tuesday May 22nd. Many residents of the municipality Schilde and its surrounding area were amazed on seeing the bizarre weather phenomenon in the sky.

It was Facebook page Weerstation Zoersel & omstreken that received pictures of the phenomenon and published them online. Excited about the sight in the sky, Belgian weather caster Jill Peeters tweeted: "I'm going for a walk - without a phone - and I keep seeing a motionless, gigantic swirl in the clouds. Thankfully, you all, such as in Zoersel and Antwerp, are taking pictures of it."

Rainbow

Elusive anti-solar arc captured on film during take off in Sweden

antisolar arc 2018
© Pål Tengesdal
On May 21st, Pål Tengesdal boarded a plane at the Gardermoen Oslo Airport in Norway and took off. Minutes later he saw something strange out the window. "There was a bright luminous «X» in the clouds," he says. "I photographed it using my iPhone 7."

"The phenomenon was visible for less than 2 minutes," says Tengesdal. "As we moved out of the clouds it faded away."

Tengesdal witnessed a rare type of ice halo called "anti-solar region arcs." To see them, you have to stare directly away from the sun, looking down into icy clouds where subhorizon reflections from the faces of ice crystals create these strange arcs.

Comment: Indeed! Just what is happening in the skies that these 'rare' sights are occurring with such increasing frequency? For more information of the causes, check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Earth changes in an electric universe: Is climate change really man-made? as well as Pierre Lescaudron and Laura Knight-Jadczyk's book Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection.

And check out SOTT's monthly documentary: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - April 2018: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs


Sun

Sun dog phenomenon seen in Derbyshire, UK

Sun dogs over Derbyshire
© YouTube/Spooky Nook Creative
The rare solar phenomenon of sun dogs were spotted in the Derbyshire sky this weekend.

People were amazed to see the weather phenomenon, which can also be called mock suns, with the official title being a parhelion.

Sun dogs are formed by two bright spots appearing either side of the sun, creating the illusion of three suns in the sky.

The phenomenon is caused by ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.

Sun dogs were spotted in Winshill, East Staffordshire on Friday, May 18 at 7.10pm.


Camera

'Rare' sun halo spotted over Philippines

Sun halo over the Philippines
© Rey Tubo
Residents of a Bohol town were treated to a rare celestial phenomenon when the sun appeared surrounded by a halo of light.

The rare sight was reported in Ubay town today (Wednesday, May 16).

Local government worker Rey Tubo spotted the sight, and posted a number of photographs on his Facebook account. He wrote: "That's what God is. Wonders man."

Engineer Riche Cutamora Ibale also uploaded a photo and captioned it with a succinct scientific explanation: "Called as 22 degree halo or a sun halo, the ring is caused by sunlight passing through ice crystals in cirrus clouds within the earth's atmosphere."