6 beautiful natural phenomena only in winter

Snow thunder, dew frost, hard frost . are unexpected natural phenomena.

The phenomenon of snowfall occurs when the temperature drops, the water molecules gather together, forming small stone crystals. These crystals gradually increase in weight and fall down.

Besides, there are many other natural phenomena that appear in the winter that you may not know. Here are a few phenomena that you cannot ignore under the Mentafloss site list.

1. Hoarfrost

One of the first signs of winter is salt in late autumn. Fog is the phenomenon of water vapor freezing into small and white particles like salt right on the ground or the surface of plants and objects when the air is moist and cold.

It often formed on winter nights, calm air, cloudy sky. However, salt fog is not salty but only white as salt, similar to the snow layer in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator.

In the fall, the night is usually clear, the wind is calm, but in the morning we see droplets of glittering water on the grass and leaves. Those are dew beads.

If the ground temperature drops low enough, the dewdrop will condense into a solid, spongy, white salt-like substance called salt mist. The hoarfrost usually lasts only 1 to 2 hours before sunrise. This type of mist has beautiful precipitation but is very toxic, harming crops and winter plants.

2. Frost flowers

Dew is ice crystals commonly found in young ice sheets and thin ice lakes. These ice crystals are similar to salt mist but grow with a diameter of about 3-4cm.

Frost flowers are formed on the sea of ​​thin ice when the air is much colder than the ice below. Usually the temperature difference between ice and air surfaces needs at least 15 ° C.

When the wet and warm air meets the lower cold air layer, it becomes saturated and can condense like frost crystals on the sea ice surface.

The condition for the flower to continue to grow is that the surface must always be wet and not freeze. When the ice grows too thick, the upper surface of the ice will get very cold and the frost flower cannot grow.

This means that frost flowers usually appear only once a year and only exist for the first few days of ice formation.

3. Hard frost

Hard frost is formed when water droplets in the fog freeze around the object. It is often seen on high mountain trees in winter, when low-level clouds cause frost freezing.

Hard frost is dangerous, unlike soft ice dew just like a thick layer of salt mist. It is thick, hard, pointed and completely transparent.

Although it is often seen where the terrain is high, this frosty coating can also form anywhere cold fog and wind occur simultaneously. It rarely appears when the temperature is below -8 degrees Celsius because cold air cannot keep enough moisture to create frost freezing.

4. Snow thunder

Snow thunder usually occurs in areas around the lake and coastal areas. In these places, the sun can produce heat, forming gas columns that are relatively warm and humid, unstable, resulting in chaotic clouds.

But these clouds alone cannot create snow thunder. The condition for creating snow thunder is the layer of air between the cloud and the warmer ground than the cloud cover, but still cold enough to produce snow. Not only that, this phenomenon also needs to be combined with wind power, which helps to warm air slightly upwards, thus forming snow thunder.

Most cases create snow thunder accompanied by extreme storms, with high wind intensity, light lightning, and the density of snow fall quite thick, about 6cm per hour.

5. Fantasy (Parhelia)

Illusions or False Suns are bright spots that appear about 22 degrees from the Sun and have the same distance above the horizon. This phenomenon has been known since ancient times and is sometimes referred to as "multi-sun".

When ice crystals form halo rings, it is oriented randomly, they act as a prism in all directions. And when these ice crystals fall into the atmosphere, it tends to fall into a vertical link, which will reflect light horizontally, at this time, the Multi-Sun phenomenon is formed. .

'Illusions' can be created when the Sun is in any position in the sky, but is most often seen when the Sun is in a low position, near the horizon.

6. False moon (paraselene)

Equivalent to the daytime with the 'virtual day' phenomenon, the fake Moon is the bright spots that appear in the night halo ring (the Moon ring) located at about 22 degrees on the right and 22 on the left Moon.

It occurs when ice crystals align vertically in the air and refract light in the horizontal direction. In folklore, the "Moon Rings" are supposed to predict storms and when the 'Fake Moon' appears, it is believed that the coming storm will be quite strong.

The 'False Moon' is hard to see with the naked eye because its light is not enough to activate the cones' cones.