Alex explores strange weather associated with fire, from firenadoes to upward lightning, lightning created in volcanic explosions and raging bush fires called firestorms; as well as exploring how lightning storms rage on planets millions of miles from Earth. Lightning strikes Earth 45 times a second. Britain gets around 300,000 strikes, with between 30 and 60 people being hit. The programme hears remarkable first-hand accounts from those who have survived lightning strikes, and learns about the strange effects lightning can have on a human body. Alex travels to Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, the lightning capital of the world, where there are near-constant lightning storms with thousands of strikes every night. Footage captured by the public on smartphones and digital cameras reveals the many varied forms lightning can take, from St Elmo's fire coursing through the fuselage of a commercial airliner, to ball lightning high in the sky and lightning inside a snow storm. Alex examines the terrifying spectre of a firenado, a catastrophic combination of a tornado and a wild fire, a swirling pillar of fire that can reach 800 degrees centigrade; as well as firestorms: a wild fire so powerful it creates its own weather, including lightning bolts that set even more fires. He also investigates fire from within the planet and learns how a deadly combination of weather and volcanic eruptions created a lethal sulphur cloud that left a trail of destruction as it travelled over Europe.
Alex reveals the staggering power of air, and learns how it creates strange weather, from tornadoes spinning on the spot to Biblical-scale dust storms, mirages, double rainbows and dust devils (columns of dust spinning over the surface). Air can also be deadly. Just over 60 years ago, really strange weather gripped London. Alex investigates how a freak set of conditions conspired to create deadly smog and London's worst pollution disaster. It was an event that killed thousands and led to new legislation to protect air quality. Our atmosphere also conjures up beautiful and spectacular phenomena: angels cavorting in the mist, double rainbows and even double sunsets. But there's a flipside of even the most stunning events. The northern lights, the auroras, are the frontline in a battle between our atmosphere and a deadly stream of radiation blasted out of the sun called the solar wind. Alex also investigates mirages and discovers a new theory that suggests that a rare cold mirage may have helped sink the Titanic.
Alex looks at how water can create freakish weather events around the planet. He learns about how a strange combination of weather phenomena created the deadly storm of 1953, which resulted in the UK's worst flood. Over 300 people died in the UK and thousands more in Germany and Holland. Eyewitnesses to the tragedy tell their stories of survival in the face of the onslaught of water. Not all water weather is lethal; Alex learns how rocks move silently across a desert floor and explains how dying micro-organisms in the water turned the sea into froth like a cappuccino, turning a Scottish village into a nightclub foam party. He also investigates weather events that take weirdness to a new level: a rain of worms in Scotland, giant hailstones called ice bombs, and a strange underwater wave that may explain the Loch Ness Monster.
Alex explores more remarkable weather events, including a flash flood in New Zealand that washes a dozen eels into a suburban street, and discovers how spiders, powered by a thunderstorm, can fly
New series of the show that examines some of the planet's most extraordinary weather phenomena. The first programme includes an upside down rainbow and glow-in-the-dark ocean waves.
How did weird weather turn Lake Erie pea green? Plus, New York's beautiful 'Manhattanhenge' sunset, moustache clouds, weather bombs, giant mushroom-shaped rocks and more.
Weird weather on this show includes; an icicle that closes down a street in Canada, a green haze that envelops Moscow 26 years after the Chernobyl disaster, and lightning that reaches out to space.
More incredible weather and the science behind it, from a rare fire rainbow to cloud streets and a blood-red waterfall.
This episode visits a town in South Carolina where it's raining popcorn snow: little balls of ice called graupel that look harmless but that could trigger avalanches.
How weird weather is making Florida the sinkhole capital of the world. Plus, red rain in Sri Lanka and India, underwater clouds, snow rollers, sprouting ice and more.
This episode features exploding icebergs in Antarctica, snow in Saudi Arabia, deadly sea foam in America, a perfect full circle rainbow, a lake that drains then mysteriously re-fills, and more.
Why is a lake in Canada coming out in spots? Plus: singing sand dunes, rare gravity waves, a pillar of ice sprouting from an English birdbath, and more.
New series. More unusual natural phenomena, including freak hailstorms in the desert, deadly `rain bombs', underwater volcanoes that affect the weather on the surface, lakes that it is possible to walk across, and a forest of rain-carved rock.
Examining strange weather events from around the world, including cities buried in snow, plagues of locusts falling from the sky, and changes in temperature that boil lakes and leave frogs frozen solid.
A look at icy waves in the Arctic and earthquakes in England. The programme also features vast floods, exploding rocks, weather on alien landscapes and lights that appear in the sky when seismic activity is taking place.
Weather conditions that cause fish to be washed ashore in India and draws sharks to the coast of Brisbane. Plus, an unusually heavy snowfall in Tucson, Arizona and strange circles in Namibia, as well as footage of hailstorms, lightning and thunder storms.
Featuring geysers erupting in the middle of a city, clouds that look like they have been cut with a razor, red rainbows, zombie trees and bridges struck by strong winds that are so fierce the structures start to wobble.
Strange sounds produced by unusual weather, including noises resonating from rocks and lakes and the roaring of twisters.
The influence of strange weather on the natural world, examining the factors that create caves of sapphires, blue lava, rainbow-coloured clouds and perfect cubes, lead to gatherings of walruses, or cause snow and beaches to disappear.
The documentary series exploring the mysteries behind bizarre climatic conditions continues, this time focusing on the weather's most colourful mysteries. Among the natural marvels highlighted are the top of a black volcano, and the bottom of a `rainbow' river.
