Mizoram, India%u2019s northeastern state, witnessed %u2018cloud waterfalls%u2019 in Aizawl earlier this month. Videos posted on social media show white coloured clouds flowing downhill, resembling a waterfall. The climatic phenomenon is known as %u2018Orographic clouds%u2019 in scientific terms.
The social media post has also gone viral amongst users and has been garnering reactions, some of which have been revolving around people planning to witness the phenomenon themselves.
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But how does this happen?
When flowing air encounters a mountain, it is forced to move uphill. After climbing up the hill, the air goes into a phase of rapidly getting hotter, cooler, heavier and denser. After reaching the maximum possible height a disbalance is created in the weight of the air and the surrounding areas and helps the water vapour in the air condense, giving it a fluffy cloud-like form when it flows down from the hill.
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Various such rare climatic phenomena have been observed around the globe but failed to get into the limelight. One such occurrence was noticed in the frozen parts of the Arctic region where %u2018frost flowers%u2019 covered huge areas. The flowers are seen under the first layer of the ice and are only found in sub-zero temperatures, usually below -20 degrees celsius.
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10 hours of continuous lighting has been seen in Venezuela near the Catacombo river. The stream sees the phenomenon for nearly 150 days of the year and also gathers huge numbers of tourists in the area. Experts believe that the lightning generated in clouds at the height of 16,000 feet above sea level.
