25 of the most mind-boggling natural phenomena on Earth

Meghan Bartels,Paola Rosa-AquinoDec 17, 2022, 21:00 IST

An unusual lake in Canada.Justin Raycraft/Flickr

From Pele's hair to kaleidoscopic clouds, our planet is filled with unbelievable natural phenomena.
You have to be at the right place at the right time to witness many of these events.

1. Volcanic lightning

Volcanic lightning at Mount Sakurajima, Japan.Kyodo/Reuters

2. Fire rainbows — sorry, we mean 'circumhorizon arcs'

A fire rainbow in Pennsylvania.fishhawk/Flickr

3. Halos

An ice crystal halo.Lucas Jackson/Reuters

4. Fire whirls, aka fire tornadoes

A large fire whirlUS Fish and Wildlife Service/Wikimedia Commons

5. Penitentes

Penitentes in front of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array telescope and the Licancabur volcano in northern Chile.European Southern Observatory/Flickr

6. Pele's hair lava

Pele's hair lava from Hawaii's Mt. KilaueaJames St. John/Flickr

7. Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia.Juan Karita/AP

8. Synchronized hordes of cicadas

A 13-year cicada in Chapel Hill, N.C.Gerry Broome/AP

9. Bismuth crystals

Iridescent bismuth crystals.maticulous/Flickr

10. Blood Falls

Blood Falls in Antartica.Peter Rejcek/National Science Foundation/Wikimedia Commons

11. Desert roses

A desert rose, which is a special form of the mineral gypsum.the paleobear/Flickr

12. Giant permafrost explosions

A giant hole in the Siberian permafrost.REUTERS/Vladimir Pushkarev/Russian Centre of Arctic Exploration

13. Rainbow eucalyptus

Rainbow eucalyptus, which hails from the Philippines and Indonesia.Forest and Kim Starr/Flickr

14. Eye of the Sahara

Richtat structure, also known as "the Eye of the Sahara."Flickr/Daniel Oines

15. Giant snake orgies

A snake orgy in Manitoba, Canada.Fred Greenslade/Reuters

16. Bright red Lake Natron

Lake Natron, in Tanzania.NASA/Wikimedia Commons

17. Waterspouts

A waterspout near Singapore.Neil Anderson /Reuters

18. Clonal tree groves

Pando, one of the oldest and largest organisms in the world.J. Zapell/Wikimedia Commons

19. Lake Maracaibo, lightning capital of the world

Lightning occurs over and around Lake Maracaibo.Reuters

20. Eternal flame falls

A shoot of fire behind an upstate New York waterfall.Kim Carpenter/Flickr

21. Spotted Lake