The world around us is such a fascinating place and the weather-related events that happen make it that much more fantastic! There are some amazing facts about weather that can help you gauge what
Weather Facts
- Hurricanes and storms have not always been given official names. The practice of naming them did not officially begin until 1953.
- On average there are approximately 1800 thunderstorms occurring on Earth at the exact same time along with 100 lighting strikes every second.
- A single lighting bolt causes the air around it to heat to around 30,000 degrees Celsius which is 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun.
- Each minute of every day, 1 billion tons of rain falls to the Earth’s surface.
- Raindrops can only fall so fast, just like you can only run so fast or how fast a car can actually go. The fastest a raindrop can possibly hit you is 18mph.
- Snowflakes take up to an hour to reach the ground if they are travelling at 2-4 mph.
- The United States has on average, 1200 tornadoes per year – more than any other country.
- The average width of a tornado’s funnel is, on average 100 to 200 yards. A funnel can be as wide as one mile.
- A full mile of the average fog contains less than one gallon of water.
Historical Weather Facts
- The wettest place on Earth is Mawsynram in Meghalaya, India which gets more than 11 meters of rain every year.
- The hottest recorded temperature on Earth was at Greenland Ranch in Death Valley, California in the year 1913 on July 10th. On that day, temperatures reach 134 degrees Fahrenheit.
- The lowest temperature on Earth ever recorded was in Vostock, Antarctica in 1983 on July 21st. The temperatures reach a very chilly negative 128.5 degrees Fahrenheit.
- The windiest place on earth is Commonwealth Bay in Antarctica where winds up to 200mph have been recorded.
- It was so cold in 1899 that the Mississippi river’s entire length was frozen.
- The average global temperature is up to 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880.
- In 1684, the Thames River in England froze solid for two entire months.
