Bizarre Things That Were Picked Up On Weather Radar

What's that weird, wet stuff falling out of the sky? Of course, you know it's rain when you're standing beneath the cloud, but to truly understand what's happening, why it arrived so fast, and where the storm is moving to next, weather radar (also called Doppler radar) is one of the niftiest tools of contemporary science. Now, not only can you warn someone across the country that it's about to hail on their wedding day, but you can also keep tabs on that big blue blob of snow rushing toward your mom's house without ever moving from your chair.

However, not everything you see on weather radar is ordinary weather ... or weather at all, actually. No, it's not aliens — though hey, if a UFO did touch down, this is probably the first place you'd see them — but the underlying causes of these colorful blobs can be equally strange.

In December 2018, the Evansville (Indiana) Courier & Press wrote that eagle-eyed weather observers had noticed a mysterious blip on the radar, moving over Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. Due to low wind and temperatures, experts quickly ruled out a thunderstorm, but bizarrely enough, the radar return matched the strength of such a storm. Nobody could figure out what was going on.

Now, if this sounds to you like the ominous beginning of a science fiction movie — likely followed by a slew of alien spaceships swooping in — you're not alone, since the whole incident cracked open quite a Twitterstorm. ABC News reported that in reality the mystery echo was probably caused by a C-130 military aircraft, which had been spotted in the skies that day, releasing a stream of "chaff." Chaff is a catch-all term for radar-jamming material — such as thin aluminum, glass fiber, or plastic — used as a defense measure to confound enemy systems during warfare.

Why would the military do something like this on U.S. soil? While it was most likely just a training exercise or a big ol' accident, both of the nearby military bases have denied any association with the incident, which ... well, seems like a great way to get UFO fans hopping up and down with new theories.

You'd probably only expect to see massive clouds of flapping, screeching bats in Gotham City, or perhaps Transylvania. However, bat parties are actually a common sight on Doppler radar. For example, on one hot Texas night in June 2016, so many of these creatures were flying around that the National Weather Service tweeted that "The Bat Signal is strong tonight!" likely scaring some of the more bat-phobic residents into staying home for the evening.

Honestly, though? Bats get a bad rap, considering all the hard work they do in eating mosquitoes, and the sad reality is that human activity has caused bat populations to decline across the board, according to Bat Conservation International. At least 53 species of bats are now endangered, another 24 species are critically endangered, and 104 populations are considered vulnerable. Interestingly enough, the fact that these winged creatures pop up on weather radar has been a boon to conservation efforts, according to Austin Bat Refuge co-founder Lee Mackenzie, as the data allows them to more effectively track populations, migrations, seasonal shifts, or behavioral changes that could signify a problem.

So hey, don't fear the bats: Instead, follow them on weather radar if you like, and hope for a batty future.

When the National Weather Service in Jacksonville, Florida, produced a three-dimensional radar image of a giant green explosion erupting on the landscape, you could be forgiven for worrying that a nuclear bomb had gone off. However, the Weather Channel says the scary-looking weather radar image was actually a massive flock of birds rising with the Sun, in unison, and taking off into the sky. A far more pleasant image, for sure. Studious Doppler radar observers have been watching bird explosions like this for years, since birds often wake up with the sunrise.

Radar technology has been an awesome addition to the toolkit of bird watchers, according to Scientific American, since it helps in tracking migration patterns: While those colorful blobs might look like a typhoon to the average person, a seasoned bird fan can use their knowledge of avian lifestyle patterns to identify what kind of bird population is moving where. The fact that bird movement can be identified via weather radar is also quite useful for the aviation industry, as airport terminals can make sure birds aren't in the way of airplanes to prevent any bloody accidents from happening.

As the world becomes increasingly mesmerized by the weird and freaky things you can spot on weather radar, some observers have made a fun habit out of trying to deduce what the mysterious blips and blobs on their screen may be. For example, in 2017 a Twitter user pinged the National Weather Service of Billings, Montana, about an unusual orangey, reddish blip that had appeared on weather radar in otherwise serene weather. What could it be?

Well, the NWS investigated and came to the conclusion that it was a moving ski lift from the local Red Lodge Mountain ski resort. Womp womp. While this revelation certainly isn't the most exciting conclusion that one could hope for — an abominable snowman would've been a lot more exciting, obviously — it is pretty cool to know that weather radar can pick up such strange things. Maybe somebody should make a drinking game called "name the blip," where every inaccurate guess warrants a drink. To really complete the theme you could make tequila sunrises, hurricanes, or tornado twists.

In 2016, as post-tropical cyclone Hermine touched down over the shores of Florida, according to Mashable, Doppler radar picked upon some rather unusual guests trapped in the eye of the storm: a whole bunch of seabirds. Oh no!

But wait, hold back your eulogies, and instead, prepare for a round of applause. As explained by Audubon, birds will often fly toward a hurricane's center once they get caught up in the winds, primarily because the eye of the storm is actually the safest place to be. While it's unlikely that these birds target the eye in any organized fashion, they tend to make efforts to stay there once they notice that being anywhere else in the vicinity is really freaking dangerous. No fun. Many birds will keep flapping around in the eye until the hurricane finally dissipates. It's probably a heck of a workout, especially without food or water, but hey.