India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav, head coach Gautam Gambhir and Ramesh Mhamunkar, chief curator of Wankhede Stadium, near the playing surface on Tuesday, March 3, 2026.
| Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI

The presence behind this name can hardly be missed.
| Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The planet’s skies and seas have seen much more than any of us combined, more than the average weather forecast can predict. These rare, questionable phenomena leave not just us baffled, but also meteorologists questioning what is real and what is magic. Let us explore just what more nature is capable of showing us.

False sunrises and sunsets

Mother Nature often likes to play pranks on us, and she does so with her fake sunrises and sunsets. A fake sunset happens when: (1) the Sun appears to be setting into or to have set below the horizon while it is still some height above the horizon, or (2) the Sun has already set below the horizon, but still appears to be on or above the horizon.

Similarly, a fake sunrise occurs when the Sun appears to have risen, but is still a little below the horizon. Atmospheric circumstances like the reflection of the sunlight from the bottom of the clouds, or a simple mirage, could cause these false sunsets and sunrises.

Moonbows

If you thought rainbows could only be seen during the daytime, you thought wrong. Moonbows or lunar rainbows are rainbows produced by moonlight rather than sunlight. It forms the same way as a rainbow in the daylight does: sunlight refracting through droplets of water. It is positioned opposite the Moon.

Moonbows are fainter than solar rainbows because the Moon can reflect only a small amount of light from the Sun. They are usually visible during the brightest full moon. For the most perfect moonbow, the Moon must be low in the sky (usually 42 degrees or lower) and must not be obscured by clouds. Additionally, the night sky must be exceptionally dark.

Moonbows can be found across the U.S., in places like the Niagara Falls, New York, and in some regions of Hawaii. The cloud forests of Costa Rica are also known for moonbows.

Animal rain

You may be familiar with the saying “raining cats and dogs”, but we all know that cannot happen in a literal way… or can it? In fact, what if you were told that there have been instances where it actually rained animals recorded since ancient history? It’s true!

Back in the first Century A.D., Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder documented a storm of frogs and fish. Years later, in 1794, French soldiers saw it rain toads near the city of Lille.

Some people see this phenomenon regularly. Rural inhabitants in Yoro, Honduras, claim that every summer, it rains fish in a phenomenon they call Lluvia de Peces (transl. “Rain of fish”).

Now, let’s revolve around a theory that explains why this could happen. One hypothesis suggests that natural phenomena like tornadoes and waterspouts often tend to carry birds and animals for several miles due to their high-speed winds. Although this theory has not been confirmed. Some cases could also be caused by birds dropping fish mid-flight.

Volcanic lightning

What do you get when you cross lightning with a volcanic eruption? The coolest thing anyone can ever see. Unlike common lightning, it occurs when particles of ash, rock, and ice collide violently during eruption. These collisions strip electrons from some particles and add them to others, creating an enormous electrical charge separation within the cloud. Once the imbalance grows too large, the energy is released as lightning.

It can be a tricky thing to study, but it’s not rare to see. The first studies of volcanic lightning were conducted at Mount Vesuvius during the eruptions of 1858, 1861, 1868, and 1872. Cases were also reported at Mount Etna in Sicily, Italy, Alaska’s Mount Augustine volcano, and the Volcán de Fuego in Guatemala.

Sprites

At first glance, it may look like an alien invasion with the red glow and the tentacle-looking figures. But that’s actually just a very rare type of lightning called a sprite.

Sprites are flashes of bright red light that occur above storm systems. It is named after the mischievous sprites in Shakespearean literature, i.e, Ariel or Puck, and is also an acronym for Stratospheric Perturbations Resulting from Intense Thunderstorm Electrification.

They are normally reddish-orange or greenish-blue, with hanging tendrils below and arcing branches above, and are preceded by a reddish halo, known as the sprite halo.

They were first captured when scientists from the University of Minnesota accidentally caught an image of what would be called a sprite. This was 1989. Since then, they have become a subject of intense investigations. They were also seen during Hurricane Matthew’s passing through the Caribbean in 2016.

Light pillar

You may have heard of the famous northern lights, but there are more light shows where that comes from.

Light pillars or ice pillars are an atmospheric optical phenomenon in which a vertical beam appears to extend beyond a light source.

The effect is created by the reflection of light from tiny ice crystals that are suspended in the atmosphere or those that form high-altitude clouds. Light pillars can also be caused by the Moon, or even man-made sources like streetlights.

There have been reports of this phenomenon in Central Alberta, Canada, and even in Alaska. These places are usually snowy and hence frequently have this kind of a light show.

Morning Glory clouds

Clouds that are close to the ground? And that are the size of the Loch Ness monster? Yes, people! These exist. The Morning Glory cloud is a rare phenomenon which involves a low-level atmospheric wave and an associated cloud. The wave occurs as a series of waves forming roll ball clouds. Sometimes there is only one cloud, sometimes there are up to ten consecutive roll clouds.

The average Morning Glory cloud can be up to 1,000 kilometres long, 1 to 2 kilometres high, and only 100 to 200 metres above the ground, which means if you’re tall enough, you’ll LITERALLY have your head in the clouds!

Published – October 07, 2025 05:30 pm IST

New Delhi:
At least 10 more people were killed as heavy rain battered Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for the second consecutive day on Sunday, causing flooding and waterlogging in several areas, and disrupting road and rail traffic.

Here Are Top Points On Andhra, Telangana Rain Fury:

Shimla/Manali:

A stretch of the National Highway-3 was closed for vehicular traffic following a flash flood triggered by a cloudburst in Himachal’s Kullu district, police said on Thursday.

No casualty has so far been reported in the incident that occurred late Wednesday, they said.

According to officials, the stretch between Dhundi and Palchan Bridge on NH-3, also known as Leh-Manali Road, was affected due to the cloudburst at Anjani Mahadev nullah in the Manali area.

Vehicles headed to Manali from Lahaul and Spiti via the north portal of the Atal Tunnel have been diverted towards Rohtang, the Lahaul and Spiti police said in an advisory on Thursday.

It also asked the commuters to travel only if necessary, drive cautiously, and stay aware of the possible danger en route.

A total of 15 roads, including 12 in Mandi, two in Kinnaur and one in Kangra district were closed for vehicular traffic while 62 transformers were disrupted in the state on Wednesday night, the state emergency operation centre said.

There have been reports of damage to a power project and a few houses but these are yet to be confirmed by officials who are assessing the damage.

The local Met office on Wednesday issued a ‘yellow’ alert of heavy rain at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh for the next four days till July 28. It cautioned about damage to plantations and standing crops, vulnerable structures and ‘kutcha’ houses in the state due to strong winds and waterlogging in low-lying areas.

A total of 49 people have died in rain-related incidents in the state, which has suffered losses of approximately Rs 389 crore, since the onset of monsoon on June 27, the emergency operation centre said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Watch | How climate change is affecting monsoon forecast and disaster management

From delayed onsets marked by intense dry spells, to devastating flash floods and destructive landslides, the monsoon in recent years has been a period of uncertainty and destruction for India.

Although there are various factors behind it, there is a general consensus among scientists that climate change plays a major role.

The Southwest monsoon that brings rain to the subcontinent during June and July, happens due to the heating up of the Asian landmass in the northern hemisphere during the scorching summer and the relative cooling of the southern Indian ocean.

How is climate change affecting monsoon? What are the challenges in predicting monsoons? Experts explain.

Script and videos: Aswin VN

Production: Richard Kujur