Month: October 2014

Swackett Fun Fact:  Not so funny, but good to know; Wildfires move at speeds of up to 14 miles an hour (23 kilometers an hour), consuming everything in its path.

Swackett Fun Fact:  More than 80 percent of the earth’s surface is volcanic in origin.

Swackett Weather Fun Fact:  If the atmosphere is clear, the surface of the earth will cool rapidly as heat is radiated away at night.  There is no “blanket” of clouds to keep the heat that the ground absorbed during the day from radiating back up into space.  If the temperature is low enough on these clear nights and there’s no wind, frost may form.

Swackett Weather Fun Fact:  A rainbow is normally seen in the afternoon in the East direction.

Swackett Fun Fact:  In January 2012, huge shipping containers from a distressed cargo vessel stranded off the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island washed up on one of the country’s most popular beaches.

Swackett Fun Fact:  Blocking a sneeze can generate pressure more than 38 times that of a normal sneeze and can fracture the eye sockets and the cartilage in the larynx as well as forceful injection of air into the chest cavity and the tissues of your neck.

Swackett Fun Fact:  If you’re in the western U.S., the ground you’re standing on maybe a little higher than it was a few years ago. It’s all because of the drought, which makes for less water weighing down the region’s tectonic plate.

Swackett Weather Fun Fact:  Your odds of getting hit by lightning in a given year are only about 1 in 1 million or 2 million.

Swackett Weather Fun Fact:  According to meteorologist Steve Wistar, dry air is actually heavier than humid air, despite the fact that it seems like you can “feel” humid air as you move through it. “There are more molecules of water in humid air which are lighter than molecules of air.”

Swackett Fun Fact:  Benjamin Franklin, Postmaster-General of the Colonies in 1753,  used his contacts with postmasters and shipmasters for research on the progression of cyclones and ocean currents.