And now for a sampling of nature’s finest hurricane videos. Batten down the hatches, because it’s only in the bedroom that it’s fun getting banged like a screen door in a hurricane!
#1: “Hurricane Wilma Hits Southern Florida”
In this awesome science video, watch palm trees head-banging in the wind like a gathering of gangly punk rock kids as hurricane Wilma flattens South Florida in 2005.
#2: “Hurricane Sandy: Timelapse of the Storm from the New York Times Building”
Appreciate a far better vantage point than most New Yorkers had of the storm that caused the Big Apple a serious headache in 2012! Watch Hurricane Sandy roll in and over NYC from the safety of the Times Building. It’s terrifyingly beautiful from this ivory tower.
#3: “Hurricane Katrina Satellite Timelapse”
Katrina’s fender bender with the southern states (2005): This is a must-see for a lesson in hurricane formation, from hazy blip over the Bahamas to a monstrous storm system that swarms and spins like your head after a night of tequila swilling!
This clip from Discovery Channel’s “Raging Planet” shows lightning in super slow motion leave the cloud and connect with the ground. Capturing and watching this footage is helping atmospheric scientists develop a much better understanding of how lightning works. For the rest of us lay folk, it makes for some super interesting visual entertainment!
Video Source: Discovery Channel “Raging Planet” – Lightning. Uploaded by ONE Interpreting on YouTube channel www.youtube.com/watch?v=64WMsNRJvDo
On March 11th, 2011, a record-breaking 8.9-magnitude earthquake shook the very foundations of the Earth off the east coast of Japan. Only hours after the earthquake struck, a wall of water 23-feet high slammed into Japan totally devastating much of its low-lying coastal areas – urban and rural alike. Cars, homes, ships, debris, vegetation and people were violently swept away as the tsunami pounded ashore.
The Pacific rim was put on high alert, but thankfully only Hawaii seemed to feel the effects of the 2011 tsunami and even then, the damage was not major. The tsunami that hit Japan on this fateful day was recorded as being more than 7-meters high. It claimed the lives of hundreds of people and injured countless more.
Video Source: “Incredible HD Footage of Japan Tsunami” uploaded by FinalCutKing on YouTube channel https://youtu.be/J2hUwFo6Vpc
What was so spectacular to see in the aftermath of the 2011 tragedy was Japan’s incredibly swift recovery from the disaster. Authorities wasted no time in repairing the roads and infrastructure that was damaged by the tsunami and the electrical fires it caused. The rest of the world can certainly learn from Japan’s efficiency and alacrity in responding to disaster management and mitigation.
Few things fascinate us quite like our worst nightmares and while we may not actively think about devastating meteorite impacts punching an inconvenient hole into our day, such an event would certainly serve to put things into perspective for us! For example, cold coffee, traffic jams and your imbecile boss are not the end of the world. A meteorite impact could be.
Let’s take a look at some spectacular footage of space objects having fender benders with our planet.
Meteorite Soars into Tyumen, Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg, Russia, Feb 13th 2013: A Compilation of the Internet’s Best Clips
Want to hear a joke? The Russian meteorite in this video was considered “small.” Gosh, NASA scientists and their size issues! First Pluto and now this?
Eight months after this meteorite collided into the Earth, it was finally extracted from its resting place in Lake Chebarkul. It weighed a staggering 570 kg, which explains the damage it did to more than 3,000 nearby buildings and 1,000 people. The blast of this meteorite was estimated to carry the equivalent punch of 300,000 tonnes of dynamite.
Beautiful Time Lapse Video of Geminid Meteor Shower, December 30th, 2012
Meteor Footage Video Source: Uploaded by Kenneth Brandon (Dark Sky Chaser) on YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/S_jdfyp8pL0
Every December, the heavens rain down Christmas upon avid sky-watchers and star enthusiasts in the form of the beautiful, glittering Geminid Meteor shower. In this video, photographer Kenneth Brandon filmed the entire event and then sped it up so that we can truly appreciate why this event is actually called a “meteor shower” in the first place. In the first sequence, we see the star trails in addition to the meteors, which in reality are probably no bigger than grains of sand. In the second sequence, the meteor trails have been rendered persistent by some nimble filming techniques. Gorgeous!
The End of the World Asteroid Impact: Animated Conjecture By JDC Creation
Now THIS is something to start your day with! What happened if a gigantic asteroid smacked into Earth and Bruce Willis wasn’t available to stop it? This video. This animated short video provides us with front row seats to the end of the world.
In April of this year, tremors and earthquakes thoroughly shook up the country of Nepal, as well as the Himalayan mountain range, which lies over a continental plate boundary (where two continental tectonic plates are colliding). In addition to totally devastating the city of Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, the earthquakes triggered several avalanches, one of which was filmed by Jost Kobusch at the Everest Base Camp…
Video Source: “Hit by Avalanche in Everest Basecamp, 25-04-2015” uploaded by Jost Kobusch on YouTube channel https://youtu.be/_JC_wIWUC2U
Hail is formed by severe thunderstorms and can range in size from super tiny pellets, which sound as though a mouse is tap-dancing on your roof, to massive grapefruits that plough straight THROUGH your roof. In this collection of three videos, we see just how large hailstones give tornadoes a run for their money in terms of the damage they can do.
This incredible video clip was filmed – mercifully – from the safety of a residential home. It records the deafening sound of massive hailstones slamming into the roof, as well as into the garden and pool. Note the huge splashes generated by the falling hailstones hitting the water and the size of the stones themselves as they accumulate on the grass.
Insurance companies in Oklahoma must have a very long and convoluted “Terms and Conditions” clause under the “Act of God” claim.
Just when you think it can’t get any worse than having large chunks of ice smashing into your roof, porch, pool and garden vegetation, the intensity of the hailstorm swells. Suddenly, it LITERALLY starts raining branches, leaves and torn-up vegetation as this colossal hailstorm shows off its mettle. According to the person who filmed this video, the hailstones ranged in size from peas to baseballs and actually halted traffic on the interstate highways.
Thankfully, the kind of large hail produced by these large thunderstorms tends to fall in narrow swaths and as such, they rarely last longer than a minute in any one area. Still, though, that’s all it takes to leave you with enough yard cleaning to do for weeks!
Video Source: “Incredible Hailstorm Phoenix, Arizona” Uploaded by ChiliDog1723 on October 28, 2010, YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XeTqp_HRIs
Hailstorm Video # 3
From beginning to end, this amazing hailstorm video shows the incredible damage done by hailstones the size of tennis balls as they smash into Woodson Texas soil, cars and even electrical cables. The guy filming it manages to pick up a couple of the hailstones to show us the size of these monsters in comparison to a quarter (US currency). Towards the end, an ambulance loads a patient who unfortunately got caught in the hailstorm and hopefully only sustained minor injuries. It just goes to show that, in storms the size and strength they are in the American Midwest, not even your car offers you sufficient refuge.
Wander Woman Thea 