Wierd phenomena how to#

The wind pushes a small lump of snow and starts it rolling along, preferably down a slope. Then, the crucial ingredient is wind at just the right speed. Underneath, they need a harder, smoother base of snow or ice, on which the snow can roll. First, they need a thin layer of snow which is slightly sticky – not too dry and powdery, not too wet and heavy. They’re rare because the natural conditions have to be just right. They seem to have been rolled up by a person – maybe to make the head for a snowman? But think again! These snow rollers have formed without any human help at all. On a cold winter’s day, you might encounter large rolls of snow lying across a field.

Wierd phenomena how to#

Our guide to Britain’s snowiest places includes the best places in Britain to see snow and tips on how to stay safe, plus a brief look back at Britain's coldest and snowiest winters on record. While parts of the UK may only experience a light dusting of snow, in other areas a deep blanket can form. The ice slowly floats towards the ground and is lit up by the sun’s rays, giving a colourful twinkling effect like diamonds hanging in the air. However, when the air is extremely cold, there’s not enough moisture in the air, so, instead, crystals of ice form out of an otherwise clear, blue sky. Snow crystals ‘feed’ on these drops of moisture and snowflakes eventually form and fall. When temperatures are just below freezing, the air can still hold super-cooled water droplets. Guaranteed to take your breath away, as will the intense cold that accompanies it, diamond dust can only be seen on the very coldest days pictures of it occuring in the UK are rare, so here’s a shot of the same phenomenon in Norway. As it does so, the air warms and the moisture evaporates, marking the bottom of the cloud. Each bulge of mammatus forms as this cold, dense air falls earthwards, dragging the moisture it holds with it. Thunderstorms occur when air rises rapidly up through the atmosphere, forming the familiar cumulonimbus, from which heavy rain and hail often form.īut all that rising air has to go somewhere, and as it spreads out at the top of the storm, it begins to descend on either side. These are mammatus clouds – protruding lobes often found suspended from thunderclouds.

Take a look at these looming, upside-down bubbles of cloud hanging from a dark sky.

Mammatus clouds above the town of New Mills in Derbyshire/Credit: Getty Images