世界の異常な絶景12選！

非常に易しく聞きやすい内容です。

今回覚えたい単語は、

atypical,anomaly,baffle,etc.

それでは今日もYouTube英語学習を楽しんでいきましょう！

00:00
Recently, people all over the world have been getting used to severe storms, heatwaves,
00:08
droughts, and cold outbreaks - in short, to all kinds of atypical weather for their regions.
00:15
But some natural anomalies are so strange that they stand out, even among the most unusual
00:21
weather events.
00:22
Here are the 12 most baffling weather phenomena of the past couple years.
00:28
1.
00:30
Deep-Frozen Niagara Falls In 2018, the legendary waterfalls located
00:36
at the border between New York State and Ontario, Canada, managed to shock everyone into silence.
00:43
Tourists who arrived to admire the power of the roaring water were astonished to find
00:48
Niagara Falls frozen!
00:50
I’m jumping ahead of myself: the waterfalls weren't frozen per se, since such a feat is
00:56
impossible for a mass of flowing water that huge.
00:59
But microscopic water droplets that became airborne off Niagara Falls, as well as the
01:05
mist, formed a crust of ice over the top of rushing water.
01:09
As a result, when looking at the waterfalls, you’d think for sure that they were frozen!
01:14
In reality, the water kept flowing, but it was hidden beneath the ice.
01:20
2.
01:21
Alligators Stuck in the Water If you’d visited the swamps of North Carolina
01:26
at the beginning of 2018, you never would’ve forgotten the view that you’d have been
01:31
greeted with.
01:33
Imagine ponds filled with ice-cold water and covered with ice.
01:37
Easy, huh?
01:38
And now picture dozens of alligator snouts that are poking out of the ponds, still and
01:44
frozen in the ice.
01:46
Despite this terrifying picture, the animals are very much alive!
01:51
That's only a very special crocodile way to survive abnormally cold weather.
01:56
Since their nostrils are above the water, the predators can breathe while their bodies
02:00
are in a hibernation-like state.
02:03
It allows the animals to conserve energy and stay warm – and alive.
02:08
3.
02:09
Horseshoe Cloud In March, 2018, people who looked up at the
02:14
sky in Northern Nevada could see the rarest and most bizarre cloud ever - a horseshoe
02:20
cloud.
02:21
Unless you know the scientific explanation of this phenomenon, it can scare and puzzle
02:26
even the most experienced sky-watcher.
02:29
But meteorologists know that such a horseshoe vortex happens when a flat cloud travels over
02:35
a column of warm rising air.
02:37
This air not only gives the cloud its impressive shape, but also adds some spin to its movement.
02:44
Unfortunately, such clouds are very fleeting and usually last for only several minutes.
02:49
On the other hand, you don't need too much time to figure out what this cloud looks like
02:54
anyway!
02:55
4.
02:57
Record-Breaking Hailstorm On March 19, 2018, the inhabitants of Alabama
03:03
had to run for their lives from the huge chunks of ice falling from the sky.
03:08
It was the infamous hailstorm of Alabama, which caused millions of dollars worth of
03:13
damage.
03:14
After the hailstorm, it looked as if the place had been thoroughly trashed by savages: broken
03:20
shop windows, smashed car windshields, broken billboards, and holes in the roofs.
03:25
But what made researchers really excited, was a hailstone found near the town of Cullman,
03:31
Alabama.
03:32
This softball-sized monster was more than 5 inches across and, thus, set a new state
03:39
record.
03:40
I’m just glad I wasn’t under that gigantic hailstone when it landed!
03:45
5.
03:46
Snow in a Desert Since we're talking about the most baffling
03:50
natural phenomena, it would be a crime not to mention snow in a desert!
03:55
Yep, in the winter of 2018, the inhabitants of the Sahara Desert, one of the driest and
04:01
hottest places on this planet, woke up to discover a thick blanket of snow covering
04:06
the sand.
04:07
In some places, the layer of snow, enveloping the dunes, reached a staggering 15 inches.
04:14
Meteorologists, however, had an explanation for this exciting phenomenon.
04:19
They stated that cold pools of air, combined with the precipitation from the most recent
04:25
storm, resulted in a snowfall instead of rain.
04:28
6.
04:30
A 160-Day Storm If a storm holds back your long-planned picnic,
04:36
keep calm and think about how lucky you are that it's not the Cataumbo - the world's longest
04:41
lightning storm!
04:43
The heart of the storm, which repeats every year, is over Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, and
04:48
it towers way higher than your regular thunderstorm.
04:52
This natural phenomenon lasts for up to 160 days, and generates nearly 300 lightning strikes
04:58
a day!
05:00
You've probably heard how they say that lightning doesn't strike in the same place twice?
05:04
Well, the Cataumbo doesn’t seem to know about this rule.
05:08
At least, it doesn't prevent storm clouds from gathering in the very same place, year
05:12
after year.
05:15
7.
05:17
Orange Snow In 2018, eastern Europe witnessed an event
05:21
as beautiful as it was spooky.
05:24
Those who went skiing in Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, or Ukraine in late March, glided down
05:30
tangerine slopes under the red-tinted sky.
05:34
Puzzled and excited, people described this experience as walking on Mars or skiing down
05:40
sand dunes.
05:41
But however mysterious this phenomenon seems, it has a disappointingly simple explanation.
05:48
The sponsor of the extraterrestrial landscape was a powerful sandstorm that had arrived
05:53
from the Sahara desert.
05:55
This storm had brought along dust, sand, and pollen particles that colored the snow orange.
06:02
Interestingly, it's not a one-time natural phenomenon.
06:06
Meteorologists say that orange snow covers the lands of Eastern Europe at least once
06:10
every five years.
06:12
For example, in 2007, three regions of southern Siberia and Russia got covered with "oily"
06:18
bright-orange snow.
06:20
I think the customary rule applies here too: you should not eat yellow snow, or orange,
06:26
or any color for that matter.
06:29
Just sayin’.
06:30
8.
06:31
Wildfire That Caused a Thunderstorm One of the most common causes of wildfires
06:37
is lightning from thunderstorms.
06:38
But have you ever heard of a wildfire that triggered a thunderstorm?
06:43
Well, now you know: it happened on May 11, 2018, not far from Amarillo, Texas.
06:49
Then, the super-powerful Mallard Fire not only created a massive dense cloud, high in
06:55
the air.
06:56
Its heat also caused a violent thunderstorm that later dumped tons of quarter-sized hailstones
07:03
60 miles away, in Wheeler County, Texas.
07:07
9.
07:08
A Long-Track Tornado In early May, 2018, New England observed one
07:14
of the scariest and most dangerous phenomena ever - a super-long-track tornado!
07:21
The frightening natural phenomenon started not far from Charleston, New Hampshire, and
07:26
traveled toward the town of Webster in Merrimack County.
07:29
It took the tornado 33 minutes to cover 36 miles and become the third on the list of
07:36
the longest-track tornadoes in New England.
07:39
10.
07:40
The Frozen Atlantic During the first week of January, 2018, unusually
07:46
cold weather in the Northeast United States froze the Atlantic Ocean in North Falmouth,
07:52
Massachusetts!
07:53
What's more, the ocean was frozen so thoroughly that people were walking on the waves.
07:58
Now, that’s obviously something you don't see every day!
08:03
11.
08:04
February "Heat Wave" On February 20-21, 2018, people in the north-eastern
08:11
part of the US experienced one of the most extraordinary weather events of recent times,
08:16
and it was... a heatwave!
08:18
Yep, in February.
08:19
In fact, it was the most impressive winter heatwave since official weather records started
08:25
in the 1800s.
08:27
For example, in Fryeburg, Maine, people were taking off their coats after the temperature
08:32
had risen to a baffling 70 degrees F. In Fitchburg, Massachusetts, confused people put on sandals
08:40
when they saw the temperature outside - 80 degrees.
08:43
The same was happening in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where the temperature reached 83 degrees,
08:48
and in Wells, Maine, where thermometers showed 77 degrees.
08:54
12.
08:55
Newfoundland Summer Snow Even though the island of Newfoundland, in
09:00
Canada, probably can't be called the warmest place on Earth, it's still not that cold.
09:05
But imagine you must shovel snow in front of your house just several days before your
09:10
summer vacation!
09:11
Well, that's exactly what happened on the island in June 2018.
09:16
A cold storm that came from the coast of Newfoundland covered several regions of the island with
09:21
a 2-inch layer of snow.
09:24
Even those who’d been living on the islands their whole lives were impressed - nobody
09:28
could remember that much snow so late in the year.
09:32
On top of that, the temperature broke all the records as well.
09:36
During the summer in Newfoundland, it's about 66 degrees F on average, and 90 degrees on
09:42
the hottest day.
09:43
But that infamous June shocked people with only 37 degrees F in the morning!
09:49
Yeah, that’s pretty chilly!
09:52
How about you?
09:53
Have you seen any weird weather anomalies in the region where you live?
09:57
Let me know down in the comments!
09:59
If you learned something new today, then give this video a like and share it with a friend.
10:03
But – hey! – don't go storming away just yet!
10:07
We have over 2,000 cool videos for you to check out.
10:10
All you have to do is pick the left or right video, click on it, and enjoy!
10:15
Stay on the Bright Side of life!