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Check out these breathtaking images from the 2022 Weather Photographer of the Year contest

Rainbows, storm clouds and frozen waterfalls, oh my.

weather photography
rmets.org

Weather is beautiful.

Capturing the perfect image is difficult even under the best of conditions, but when trying to get a snapshot of once-in-a-lifetime moments in nature, the task becomes herculean. The reward, however, is witnessing beauty almost too dazzling to be real.

On Oct. 6, Christopher Ison was awarded the title of Weather Photographer of the Year for his breathtaking photo of storm waves crashing against a lighthouse. According to My Modern Met, judges received entries from more than 119 countries and created a shortlist of 22 stunning images. The annual contest, held by the Royal Meteorological Society, celebrates weather of all forms, from whimsical rainbows to chaotic lightning storms and phenomenon in between.

Below are the eight winners this year. Believe it or not, some pictures were even taken with a smartphone.

Main winner: "Storm Eunice" by Christopher Ison

Photo location: Newhaven, East Sussex, U.K.

Camera: Canon EOS R5

storm eunice

"Storm Eunice"

www.rmets.org

Ison’s bold, dramatic, almost monochromatic image comes as a result of Storm Eunice, an intense cyclone that wreaked havoc in the U.K. in February. Its 122 mph wind speeds set a new record in England.

Needless to say, getting the photo successfully (and safely) would not be easy. Ison chose to head to high ground and stand slightly further away from the harbor wall. With his back to the weather, he snapped the image.

"When the storm was predicted and that it was carrying the first ever red warning for the south coast, I knew I had to find a spot to record it – this was going to be big!" Ison shared.

2nd place: "Frozen" by Zhenhuan Zhou

Photo location: Ontario, Canada

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV

niagara falls

"Frozen"

www.rmets.org

Photographer Zhenhuan Zhou perfectly captured the mystical essence of a frozen Niagara Falls in winter. Extreme low temperatures cause sheets of ice to form over the water’s surface, giving the illusion that the Falls have completely stopped, when in reality water continues to flow underneath.

The cold imagery is balanced out by the warm glow of a single light emanating from a cozy cabin, which clearly belongs to some kind of winter fairy.

3rd place: "Ghost Under the Cliff" by Emili Vilamala Benito

Photo location: Tavertet, Barcelona, Spain

Camera: Sony SLT-A99V

Brocken spectre

"Ghost Under The Cliff"

www.rmets.org

The shadowy figure shrouded in a rainbow seen in Emili Benito’s photograph is called a Brocken Spectre—an optical illusion that occurs when the observer’s shadow is magnified as it’s cast onto a cloud or mist.

The Brocken Spectre is a type of glory. Glories are often seen by air travelers, who notice the shadow of their airplane cast on clouds below. The airplane’s shadow will be moving along on the cloud tops, surrounded by a rainbow-like halo of light as it flies through the air.

Public vote winner: "Departing Storm Over Bembridge Lifeboat Station" by Jamie Russell

Photo location: Bembridge, Isle of Wight, U.K.

Camera: Nikon d7500, Sigma 10-20 lens

double rainbows

"Departing Storm Over Bembridge Lifeboat Station"

www.rmets.org

Photographer Jamie Russell has apparently been chasing storms all across the Isle of Wight, capturing gorgeous rainbows. But the one found after a show in Bembridge was the ultimate prize, causing him to rush into “waist-deep water, fully dressed” to compose this image.

This double rainbow comes as a result of sunlight being refracted twice within a raindrop. A key characteristic of the “second bow” is a fainter hue and reversed color sequence.

Mobile category winner: "Sunset" by Aung Chan Thar

Photo location: Kyaikto, Myanmar

Camera: Vivo X70 pro+

Myanmar sunset, sunset photography

"Sunset"

www.rmets.org

This one’s a delight to weather enthusiasts and architecture buffs alike.

The richness of the sunset happens because of Rayleigh scattering, aka nature’s Instagram filter. When the sun is very low (as in sunrise and sunset), its light has to travel further through the atmosphere. Blue light, which is shorter in wavelength than red light, is therefore scattered away and deflected before our eyes can see it. The longer wavelengths of orange and red light are scattered less, and therefore more visible. Not to mention gorgeous.

Mobile category runner-up: "Scotch Mist" by Vince Campbell

Photo location: Tarbet, Loch Lomond, Scotland

Camera: Samsung SM-J530f 3.71mm

scotland photography

"Scotch Mist"

www.rmets.org

I knew that smartphones could take some pretty epic pictures, but I didn’t know they could be this epic.

Photographer Vince Campbell was up before the sun and walking with his dogs Oscar and Ollie to capture this beautiful misty scene.

This is a “misty” scene, rather than a “foggy” one, because of the visibility. Mist and fog are both caused by water droplets suspended in the air close to the ground. Mist is less dense and dissipates more quickly. The rule of thumb is—if you can see more than 1,000 meters (in the pictures, for example, you can see all the way across the lake), then it’s mist. If you can’t see past 1,000 meters, it’s fog.

Young Weather Photographer of the Year winner: "Mammatus Sunset" by Eris Pil

Photo location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

Camera: Pixel 3 Phone

Mammatus clouds

"Mammatus Sunset"

www.rmets.org

"The sky was completely lit up in a way I had never seen before, like these beautiful backlit watercolor clouds,” recalled Young Photographer of the Year Eris Pil.

What looks like a Van Gogh painting in the photo are mammatus clouds, which, despite their fluffy, pleasant seeming demeanor, are created under tumultuous conditions. Often, but not always, they are sweet-looking harbingers of severe thunderstorms and even tornados. But hey, they’re nice to look at.

Pil shared that this photo was her “first time ever witnessing” mammatus clouds, and that she hopes for the “opportunity to see them again.”

Young Weather Photographer of the Year runner-up: "Tyndall Effect" by Shreya Nair

Photo location: Trivandrum, India

Camera: Redmi Note 9 Pro

light beams photo

"Tyndal Effect"

www.rmets.org

Photographer Shreya Nair was taking a walk through their backyard in India when they spotted light peaking through the tree canopy.

This heavenly effect is known as the Tyndall effect. Similar to a Rayleigh scattering, the Tyndall effect is a scattering of beams of light that attach to floating particles like smoke or dust. Again, because blue and red light have different wavelengths, they are affected differently during this weather phenomenon. The Tyndall effect is why the sky appears blue.

Wanna bask in beautiful weather year-round from the comfort of your own home? The Weather Photographer of the Year 2023 calendar is available on pre-order.

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Animals & Wildlife

6th grader's science experiment answers, 'Do cat buttholes touch every surface they sit on?'

A question no one knew they needed answered.

Photo courtesy of Kerry Hyde

Do cat buttholes touch every surface they sit on? Science answers.

Cat owners sometimes have unique questions that even Google doesn't always have the answer to. This is probably the sole reason cat forums exist, but one kid who needed a 6th grade science project decided to skip the cat forums for answers and instead use the scientific method. Kaeden Henry, a sixth grader living in Florida, bravely pondered a question few (if any one) has been brave enough to ask: do cat buttholes touch every surface they sit on?

Since cats do whatever the heck they want, training them not to jump on kitchen counters is a feat even Hercules struggles to complete. These fierce felines don't care if you're cooking dinner or trying to get comfy in bed. If they want to sit somewhere, they're going to do it. The thought of cat butts on that expensive Serta pillow designed to feel like you're sleeping on a cloud can gross people out, but thanks to Kaeden, you no longer have to wonder if the butthole itself is also making contact.

Courtesy of Kerry Hyde

The curious sixth grader is homeschooled and well-versed in the scientific method thanks to her mother's PhD in animal behavior with a concentration in feline behavior. And, since they own cats, the science experiment was pretty straightforward (and directly impactful).

To complete the experiment, Henry and his mom, Kerry Hyde, bought non-toxic lipstick and applied it to each of their cat's anuses. Then, the cats were given commands.

Courtesy of Kerry Hyde

"Non-toxic lipstick was applied to their bum-bums, they were then given a series of commands (sit, wait, lie down, and jump up. Side note: Both cats have been trained since kittenhood with a variety of commands, they also know how to high-five, spin around, and speak.), they were compensated with lots of praise, pets, and their favorite treats, and the lipstick was removed with a baby wipe once we collected our data in just under 10 minutes," Hyde wrote in a Facebook post.

The results? Turns out that, no, cat buttholes do not touch every surface cats sit on. Now, let's all take a collective sigh of relief while we go over the details. Kaeden's experiment covered long-haired, short-haired, and medium-haired cats (if your cat is hairless, you better stock up on Clorox wipes just in case).

"His results and general findings: Long and medium haired cat’s buttholes made NO contact with soft or hard surfaces at all. Short haired cats made NO contact on hard surfaces. But we did see evidence of a slight smear on the soft bedding surface. Conclusion, if you have a short haired cat and they may be lying on a pile of laundry, an unmade bed, or other soft uneven surface, then their butthole MAY touch those surfaces!" Hyde shares.

Now every curious cat owner can rest easy knowing that as long as their cat has hair, their bare bottom balloon knot is not touching the majority of surfaces in their home.

Courtesy of Kerry Hyde

The amusing experiment caught the Internet's attention. People laughed and commented, with one person writing, "This is probably the most useful information I’ve learned from a science fair project."

"Good to know!...I can now eat my sandwich left on the counter with confidence!" another writes.

Courtesy of Kerry Hyde

"A+++!!! Whew!! I am very grateful for your sciencing on this subject. My fears from walking in on my cat sitting on my laptop keyboard and subsequently being grossed out and cleaning furiously in a hyper-ocd manner have been somewhat allayed and now maybe I won’t have to use QUIIITE so many wipes." someone chimes in.

"Finally.. Someone answers the important questions!!"

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Pets

Kitten named Duck learns to run on two legs and she looks like an adorable velociraptor

It hasn't slowed her down one bit.

Purrasic Duck|Instagram

Cat learns to run on two feet after front leg amputations.

Babies are really adaptable, and the same can be said for baby animals. It's likely because they just don't know any other way of life, so they just go with it what they're given and, miraculously, make it work. Even knowing that, however, it's still hard to imagine a kitten getting around without their front legs.

Cats essentially use everything from their whiskers to their tails to balance, so how would one walk without two of it's four legs? The answer is, carefully at first. Duck is a rescued kitten who, unfortunately, had to have both of her front legs completely amputated. While she was wobbly at first, she quickly adapted.

Duck's human, Cody, shares her daily shenanigans on his Instagram page aptly named Purrasic Duck. In 2020, he told Duck's story to The Dodo, revealing how she was rescued and how, against all odds, she developed her agile moves. If you're having a hard time picturing a two-legged cat on the run, it looks a lot like a furry velociraptor chasing a laser pointer.

"I ended up naming her Duck because she kinda waddled. She'd kinda take it slow, she waddled trying to figure out her balance," Cody told The Dodo.

Before long, Duck was off to play with her much larger dog brothers. Her pug brother even offers her a little assistance in the face cleaning area since Duck doesn't have paws to do it herself. She returns the favor by cleaning his face too. It's an adorable relationship, but if you want to see a furry velociraptor chase after cat toys, you'll need to watch the video below.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Cody met Duck when she was found and brought into his sister's animal clinic. "She was probably chilling in a car engine and her legs got caught up, and she survived that!" Cody can be heard saying as a voice over in the video. At first, Cody's sister brought her over as a potential foster, but after just one day, Cody decided to keep her for his own. "When I met her, I just fell in love immediately," he said.

Duck has no shortage of friends to play with at home, either. In addition to her dog brothers, Cody rescues and either keeps or fosters plenty of baby animals, from chickens, turtles, and opossums to a raccoon, a squirrel, and of course, more dogs and cats. Duck also has a sister named Goose, who's an adorable gray kitty with just one eye. Here they are hanging out together:

@purrasicduck

A great surprise #animals #foryou #mememaker #fitness #girls

Today, Duck is no longer a baby and has gotten this two-legged life down pat. She's living happily with dad Cody and her many, many, many animal siblings and friends. On her social media pages, Cody includes a useful link for other pet parents, rescuers, and fosterers with recommended products to help make the rescue and rehoming process easy for everyone. Check it out here.

@purrasicduck

Alllllll the animals #CapCut #pets #rescue #foryou #foryoupage

Cody has got quite the rescue menagerie going and and it's so inspiring.


This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated.

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Science

Innovative farm in Virginia can grow 4 million pounds of strawberries on less than one acre

This method uses 97 percent less land and up to 90 percent less water than conventional farming.

Photo credit: Canva

A new way to grow strawberries with less land, less water, and more berries.

Strawberry farm harvests aren't something most of us calculate on a regular basis (or ever at all), but the numbers from a strawberry farm in Richmond, Virginia, are staggering enough to make it worth an old-school word problem. If the average American eats 8 pounds of strawberries a year, and an average strawberry farm yields approximately 20,000 pounds of berries per acre, how many people could a 200-acre strawberry field feed?

I won't make you do the math. The answer is 500,000 people. But what if a crop that size, providing enough strawberries for half a million people, could be grown on just one acre instead of 200? It's possible. You just have to go—or rather grow—up, up, up.

Indoor vertical farm company Plenty Unlimited knows a lot about growing up. In fact, it's their entire business model. Instead of the sprawling fields that traditional farming methods require, vertical farms have a much smaller land footprint, utilizing proprietary towers for growing. Plenty has used vertical farming methods to grow greens such as lettuce, kale, spinach and more for years, but now it boasts a vertical berry farm that can yield a whopping 4 million pounds of strawberries on a little less than an acre.

Growing indoors means not being at the mercy of weather or climate inpredictability (barring a storm taking out your building), which is wise in the era of climate change. Unlike a traditional greenhouse which still uses the sun for light, Plenty's indoor vertical farms make use of the latest technology and research on light, pinpointing the wavelengths plants need from the sun to thrive and recreating them with LED lights. Plenty farms also don't use soil, as what plants really need is water and nutrients, which can be provided without soil (and with a lot less water than soil requires). Being able to carefully control water and nutrients means you can more easily control the size, taste and uniformity of the berries you’re growing.

If that sounds like a lot of control, it is. And that idea might freak people out. But when a highly controlled environment means not having to use pesticides and using up to 90% less water than traditional farming, it starts to sound like a solid, sustainable farming innovation.

Plenty even uses AI in its strawberry farm, according to its website:

“Every element of the Plenty Richmond Farm–including temperature, light and humidity–is precisely controlled through proprietary software to create the perfect environment for the strawberry plants to thrive. The farm uses AI to analyze more than 10 million data points each day across its 12 grow rooms, adapting each grow room’s environment to the evolving needs of the plants – creating the perfect environment for Driscoll’s proprietary plants to thrive and optimizing the strawberries’ flavor, texture and size.”

Plenty even has its own patent-pending method of pollinating the strawberry flowers that doesn’t require bees. Even just the fact that this enormous crop of strawberries will be coming from Virginia is notable, since the vast majority of strawberries in the U.S. are grown in California.

strawberry fieldTraditional strawberry farming takes up a lot of land.Photo credit: Canva

Plenty's Richmond farm is currently growing strawberries exclusively for Driscoll’s.

“Partnering with Plenty for the launch of the Richmond Farm allows us to bring our premium strawberries closer to consumers in the Northeast, the largest berry consumption region in the U.S.,” Driscoll’s CEO Soren Bjorn said in a press release. “By combining our 100 years of farming expertise and proprietary varieties along with Plenty’s cutting-edge technology, we can deliver the same consistent flavor and quality our customers love — now grown locally. This new innovative farm is a powerful step forward in continuing to drive category growth in new ways for our customers and consumers.”

Is Plenty’s model the farm of the future? Perhaps it’s one option, at least. The more we grapple with the impact of climate change and outdated, unsustainable farming practices, the more innovative ideas we’ll need to feed the masses. If they can get 4 million pounds of strawberries out of an acre of land, what else is possible?

This article originally appeared in February

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Joy

Inconsiderate coworker unknowingly eats THC-infused pie from the office fridge

An unforgettable lesson in why you shouldn't take someone's food without permission.

Photo credit: Canva

A coworker ate someone else's pie and quickly learned a lesson.

There's nothing more annoying in an office setting than a coworker constantly eating food out of the break room fridge that isn't theirs. They know it's not theirs so they wait until no one is around to swipe whatever looks most appetizing. Sometimes it's even a case of secretly bullying someone else by specifically eating one person's food or snacks left in the community space.

This sort of behavior can make anyone frustrated, especially if the victim of the food snatcher was looking forward to their packed lunch. Anyone who has experienced having their food taken has likely thought about how satisfactory it would feel to somehow get revenge on the culprit. One person didn't have to plot retaliatory strike, seems karma entered the room on this worker's day off.

Fola, who owns Sades Dulces where she sells baked goods, uploaded a video detailing a phone call she received from a local business about a pie consumed by their employees.

Fola revealed that outside of her Sades Dulces, she sells THC infused pies, which is the same type of pie she recently delivered to a customer's employer. The state in which this occurred has legalized the selling and consumption of marijuana, including any products derived by the THC oils so someone ordering an infused pie wasn't out of the norm for this small business.

TikTok · Folawww.tiktok.com

In this case, she was directed to drop the pie off so the customer could take the pie home for the weekend. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the customer forgot the pie in the employee refrigerator.

That's when a sneaky office snacker, who works weekends, took it upon themselves to break open the brand new uneaten pie. They not only began to eat the pie, they shared the pie with eight other people, none of which knew the pie was infused with THC including the original pie thief.

"My customer doesn't work on the weekend so what ended up happening is that my customer put their pie into the 'frigerator at the job. We already know where I'm going with this, right," Fola said before continuing with the story.

Finally Yeah Boy GIFfrom Finally GIFs

She explained that the business called her asking a lot of questions about the pie because the people that ate it started to get sick causing the employer to need to call an ambulance. Fola told the employer that the pie is infused with THC and everyone should be fine once it wears off but the woman refused to give her customer's name fearing that they may get into trouble for the mishap.

Eventually Fola called the customer to inform her about her nine coworkers eating her infused pie, which caused them to be sent home from work. According to Fola, the customer did not feel badly for her fellow coworkers, saying, "So, she's like 'oh my God.' And then she was like 'you know what, that's what they get because they keep eating people's food.'"

That's one way to learn a lesson about eating other people's food without permission. Of course if you're knowingly ingesting an edible containing THC, you expect to feel a little weird. These coworkers thought they were getting a regular piece of sweet potato pie and there was nothing to tip them off before consuming the product so they were likely caught off guard by their body's reaction. There's also the likelihood that the people who at the infused pie had never eaten infused foods previously, making the reaction even more concerning.

"If you've never had an edible before you are going to freak out because you don't know what's going on with your body," she quipped. "Half of them probably thought they were going to meet their maker so I can understand everybody freaking out."

@folathemasterpiece Infused pie gets people fired
♬ original sound - Fola

People in the comments found humor in the unauthorized pie eaters' misfortune while other's pointed out that the story makes a great marketing opportunity for the small business.

"Having a potluck on a pie you didn't purchase is WILDDDD," one person wrote.

"I'm crackin upppp. Chile this is why you cannot eat everybody food. Cause why the people at the office eating a pie that wasn't offered to them anyway lmao" another person asked.

Pie Pie Day GIFfrom Pie GIFs

"Why do people think it's ok to help themselves to other people's food or eat their lunch when not offered to them. It could have been something that they are allergic to. I'm sharing this video," someone else said.

One person recalled a similar situation that happened when they took too much of an edible by mistake, "My friend gave me a 50g edible, and mind you I like both flowers and edibles...I'm use to about 20-50g. I look at the package after I consumed and it was 500g. Thought was going to legit be the first one in history to die from canna...Almost drove to the hospital and snitched on myself."

Thankfully everyone who ate the pie is just fine, though they continued to be a little buzzed the day after the incident according to Fola's follow up video. But it's surely an unforgettable lesson on why you don't eat food out of a community refrigerator that doesn't belong to you.

This article originally appeared last year.

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Family

Woman shares the 'key' to being a good mother-in-law, and it's actually spot-on

This could certainly save a few in-law relationships.

@millennialmatleave/TikTok

"Fill you own cup" is good advice for nearly every situation, isn't it?

Listen, not every mother-in-law disregards boundaries, questions their kid’s parenting styles, tries to manipulate, and so on and so forth. But there’s a reason why the stereotype exists. Plenty have their own horror stories of being on the receiving end of toxic MIL behavior.

But for those wanting to avoid being that stereotype, Janelle Marie, or @millennialmatleave on TikTok believes that she has found the “key.” And it’s all about “filling your own cup.”

“Fill your dang cup. Something outside of your children that makes you feel good, makes you feel fulfilled, makes you feel happy,” Janelle begins in a TikTok.

@heyjanellemarie Lets get some hobbies girls…..you know, when you can find a single free moment #hobbies #motherinlaw #toxicmotherinlaw #relationshipadvice #parentingtips #lifehack #grandparents #inlaws #parenting #boymom ♬ original sound - Janelle Marie

That means that besides devoting your identity towards nurturing kids, you should be “nurturing” your marriage, as well as other relationships, like friendships, she notes.

“I unfortunately feel like a number of mothers-in-law that are feeling really confused about this role of mother-in-law or dissatisfied with the role of mother-law, and it ends up meaning that they act in a way that comes across as desperate or controlling or with guilt trips — women who don’t have enough going on outside of their relationship and their role as a mom. And so when their kids grow up, they’re ill-equipped to replace that relationship with other things.”

Janelle concludes by acknowledging it’s “easier said than done,” and reiterates that she isn’t trying to place blame, but rather just point out that “it’s something we need to be aware of.”

Generate ALT toxic mother in law, mil, parenting, boundaries, toxic mil, mother in law, motherhood, family, mom adviceA mother-in-law eavesdropping. Photo credit: Canva

Down in the comments, folks seem to clearly resonate with Janell’s stance—many have MILs of their own who could really benefit from a hobby or friend circle.

“My MIL’s hobby was getting into my marriage,” quipped one viewer.

“My toxic mother in law has had zero friends in the 18 years I’ve known her,” said another.

A few MILs even chimed in. One shared, “I noticed I got too involved/emotional/bothered by my son’s relationship and immediately looked in the mirror! Poured that energy into my marriage, friends, and hobbies.”

“OMG, you’re right,” reflected another. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m a good MIL, I don’t meddle or overstep, but boy do I struggle. I definitely need to get a hobby!”

As we know, it can be hard for any mom to not lose themselves in the demands of raising a child. And only up until recently were women allowed by society to see themselves as anything beyond being a mother. Self care is also a fairly new concept for everyone. So it is understandable that many MILs find themselves in this struggle without proper coping mechanisms.

But still, if the goal really is to maintain loving, healthy family relationships, it’s crucial to be mindful of any self sabotaging behaviors, and continuity working through those insecurities. That goes for MILs and non-MILs alike.

Generate ALT toxic mother in law, mil, parenting, boundaries, toxic mil, mother in law, motherhood, family, mom adviceA couple with their mother/mother-in-lawPhoto credit: Canva

For those looking to be the best mother-in-law they can be, here are a few pieces of advice:

Don't make it about you

It can be difficult to accept that you might not be the #1 woman in your kid’s life anymore, but it’s important both for you and the couple that those potential feelings of rejection get reframed. After all, there's truly no love lost.

@heyjanellemarie Mother-In-Law Support Line: Grandma Shower……we have a new character, the MIL has entered the chat 😏 Story submitted by sadly more than one follower 😳 #satire #motherinlaw #toxicmotherinlaw #babyshower #newmom #expectingmom #etiquette ♬ original sound - Janelle Marie


Use your words to uplift, not criticize

Words are powerful. Use them wisely. A little complement now and then goes a long way.

Back off

Let the couple raise their kids, and solve their problems, as they see fit. Trust that you can let them handle their own. Even when intentions are good, offers of help without being asked for it can be seen as criticism.

@heyjanellemarie I’m a Daughter-In-Law…… #daughterinlaw #satire #motherinlaw #inlaws #marriage #millennials ♬ original sound - Janelle Marie


Invite and Include

Leaving people out leads to resentment. Always invite kids and their spouses to join performances, graduations, birthday celebrations, and other family events, whether or not you think they want to or can attend.

And, of course…fill your own cup.

This article originally appeared last year.

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