Whether you love sunny days or cozy Pacific Northwest drizzle, weather is one of nature's most fascinating shows. Here are seven facts that might change the way you look at the sky.
1. Lightning Is Hotter Than the Surface of the Sun: A lightning bolt can heat the air around it to about 50,000°F, roughly five times hotter than the Sun's surface.
2. A Fluffy Cloud Can Weigh Over a Million Pounds: A typical puffy cumulus cloud holds about 1.1 million pounds of water. It floats because those droplets are tiny and spread out across a huge area.
3. No Two Snowflakes Are Exactly Alike (Probably): Each flake takes its own path through the sky, growing under slightly different conditions, which makes identical snowflakes incredibly unlikely.
4. Raindrops Aren't Teardrop-Shaped: Small raindrops are round, and larger ones flatten out on the bottom, a lot like a hamburger bun.
5. The Smell of Rain Has a Name: That earthy scent after a storm is called "petrichor," caused partly by oils from plants and a compound made by soil bacteria.
6. You Can Estimate How Far Away a Storm Is: Count the seconds between a lightning flash and the thunder, then divide by five. That's roughly how many miles away the storm is.
7. It Can Be Too Cold to Snow… Almost: Very cold air holds little moisture, so the heaviest snowfalls usually happen when temperatures are near freezing, not far below it.
So the next time it rains, take a deep breath of that petrichor and enjoy the show!