This sandstorm was no joke. In 2018, a giant wall of sand engulfed the city of Phoenix, Arizona in the United States. It came from the desert and was almost a mile high and 230 feet wide. The weather services issued warnings advising people not to travel. Considering there was zero visibility, this is pretty good advice. Mother Nature simply took charge that day (via The Travel).
Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia is the world’s largest salt flat. It has an ethereal, dream-like beauty. Mother Nature doesn’t always have to be disastrous, as she has many beautiful moments like the one seen here. It covers about 10,000 square kilometers, and is composed of tightly compacted, crackling salt crystals (via The Travel ).
Witnessing an intense flood is one thing. But the most terrifying part is that the only thing separating the deluge from the photographer is a thin sheet of glass and a windowpane. One small crack, and that flood will be inside that person’s house (via My Health Gazette).
Despite the beauty of this monstrosity, it’s quite deadly. Depending on the size of the ash cloud, it can cause a major worldwide disruption. Volcanic ash is a combination of splintered rock that’s shattered by the explosion, and frozen liquid magma. Ash clouds consist of very fine particles, and can reflect sunlight back into space. They’re deadly to aircraft because of their fine composition, and their reflective quality cools the planet, having adverse effects. 1815 was the “year without a summer,” triggered by the ash cloud from Indonesia’s Mt. Tambora (via The Travel).
We associate summer with sunshine, warm air, and bright days. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for England. In some parts of the country, summer doesn’t even exist, proven by this photo. Sometimes, it seems Mother Nature decides to punish us (via My Health Gazette).
The Northern Lights are one of the most spectacular phenomenons in the world. They appear like bright, dancing lights in the sky. In order to see the Northern Lights, you have to head to countries like Iceland, Norway, and Finland. The conditions have to be perfect, there can’t be any cloud coverage or light pollution. The light is created by charged particles smashing into the earth’s atmosphere to create this magical display of color. The Aurora Borealis is definitely a gift from Mother Nature (via The Travel).
In 2018, a spectacular storm swept across South Australia in summertime. There were over 63,000 lightning strikes in one 24-hour period. Almost 17,000 homes lost power throughout the state. Several days of extreme heat followed the storm, with temperatures soaring to 42.2 degrees Celsius (via The Travel).
We’ve all put in effort to see a beautiful view or sunrise. Unfortunately for this person, they woke up in the early hours of the morning and drove two hours to the top of Haleakala Crater in Hawaii. We’d all probably be pretty disappointed (via My Health Gazette).
Mother Nature gifts us with beautiful creations, like this ice leaf after an ice storm in St. Louis. Too bad you can’t hang this up on your wall! (via Thund3rbolt).
After looking at this picture, we may never want to go on a cruise ship again. This cruise ship is battling massive waves in the North Sea. Mother Nature shows no mercy. Imagine being on this cruise ship. Everyone on board was probably holding on for dear life like the sloth we pictured earlier in this list was after the hurricane. During the winter months, storms and mammoth waves frequently occur in this region of the Atlantic Ocean. Rogue waves can happen anywhere, even though they’re quite rare. In 2004, rogue waves were finally recognized after researchers from the European Space Agency (ESA) used satellite data to show that these waves do occur (via The Travel).
The calm after a storm can be quite beautiful, despite the treacherous aftermath. In Yosemite, this was the calm after the storm. It looks like something from a fairytale land. Mother Nature is a beautiful disaster (via Reddit).
This door looks apocalyptic. We wouldn’t be surprised if a bunch of snow zombies were waiting on the other side of the door. And if this is the inside of the door, we can only imagine what the outside looks like (via My Health Gazette).
Despite the raging wildfires, the sky was a miraculous display of vivid reds and oranges because of the flames and smoke. Even though Mother Nature causes destruction, she can also create incredible displays of beauty (via My Health Gazette).
Bushfires create an insane weather phenomenon that includes dry lightning, black hail, and fire tornadoes. This fire tornado was more than 10,000 meters high and 200-300 meters wide. It traveled more than 20 kilometers. Everything in its path was destroyed. Its winds can reach up to 99 miles per hour and temperatures more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (via The Travel).
March 2011 marked a day of drastic change for Japan. A 9 magnitude earthquake caused a tsunami that destroyed the lives of many Japanese people. More than 120,000 buildings were destroyed. The financial damage caused by the tsunami was about $199 billion dollars. To this very day, tsunami debris continues to wash up on beaches in North America (via The Travel).
Things went downhill when they opened their umbrella. Instead of keeping them dry, Mother Nature had other plans in store for them. It’s definitely an untrustworthy umbrella, and apparently wanted to break free (via My Health Gazette).
Sinkholes, despite their seemingly complex nature, are quite simple. According to National Geographic, there are two types of sinkhole. When the roof of a cave collapses into an underground cavern, it turns into a sinkhole. The second kind of sinkhole happens when water dissolves a layer of underlying rock. This, in turn, creates an underground cavity. Because there is no rock to support it, the layer of soil on top collapses. Regardless, we’d like to stay far away from them, to avoid being swallowed by Mother Nature (via The Travel).
We’ve seen an ice-covered bus. What about an iced up tower? Now, we’ve seen it all. At least the man looks like he’s having fun (via ErrorlessGnome).
You’d expect a grill to end up in the pool after a crazy party, not a storm. It’s surprising that the grill moved, meanwhile the patio furniture stayed in place. These homeowners won’t be using their grill or pool anytime soon (via My Health Gazette).
We’ve seen many different outcomes from a hurricane. Somehow, this piece of wood ended up directly in the middle of this tree trunk somehow. This is a phenomenon we’ll never have an answer for (via Jitse).
This motorist managed to get caught in the ash fall of an erupting volcano. It seems like it was a pretty intense journey, considering how thick the layer of ash is all over their body. At least their phone managed to stay clean (via My Health Gazette).
After Hurricane Ophelia in Ireland, it appears to have rained apples. None of these apples survived the wrath of the hurricane. Hopefully these apples were picked up from the ground and eaten (via Shwarznegger).
In some parts of the continent, summer is notoriously hot. Even inanimate objects can’t deal with the insanely high temperatures, like this melted lamp. It turns out that it’s not protected against the summer heat. At least this person managed to take a photo and preserve the memory (via My Health Gazette).
