What's that falling from the sky?

What’s that falling from the sky?

Bizzare facts about rain and everything related to it

by Lydia Tan Hua Sian

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What’s that Falling from the Sky?

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Published by iN publishers Sdn Bhd No. 71 Jalan SS2/75, 47300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.

Tel: +603-7876 8333 / +603-7875 6333 / +6012-723 6160 Fax: +603-7875 8781 e-mail: inpublishers@gmail.com www.iNpublishers.com.my

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Dedication To Karin, my best friend and greatest inspiration for my works. I realize that I create the best works with you and for you. This time, I’ve created my first and longest book. And lastly, like you always say, stay awesome!

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Contents 8 9 12

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Preface

Introduction

Weird things falling from the sky Raining fish from the sky Starlings rain down, dead Money falling from the sky Run, it’s raining spiders!

Worms are falling out of the sky!

Mysterious jelly falls from the sky Blood rain fell Edible fresh meat rains down Creepy “Vampire fish” falls from the sky in Alaska It’s snowing coloured snow!

A cow falls from the sky and sinks a boat

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Things about rain that make more sense The Japanese have 50 words to describe rain Other Japanese words related to rain Rain sound effects Idioms that describe heavy rain

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Rain in art Rain Room Rain Bottle Kinetic Rain Rain Works

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Predicting the weather using old wives’ tales Introduction “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky in the morning, sailor’s take warning” Cows lie down when it is about to rain “Three days rain will empty any sky” “In the morning mountains, in the afternoon fountains” A halo around the moon as a warning of rain or snow “Pink Crocus lilies will flower when rain is coming” An increase in the number of black cockatoos in an area is an indicator of rain Sighting of emu chicks is a sign that the wet season is coming

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It’s raining in different languages The Japanese have 50 words to describe rain Other Japanese words related to rain Rain sound effects Idioms that describe heavy rain

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Eccentric umbrellas Introduction Umbrella that holds your coffee for you “Dualbrella” “Wheel and Seal” umbrella “Full body umbrella” “Dogbrella” Glowing LED Light Saber Umbrella Squirt gun umbrella “Off the course” umbrella Parasol clock

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It’s not Mother Nature, it’s a conspiracy!

History of rain-making Rain-makers Project Popeye Project Stormfury Beijing used rockets to prevent rain during the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics The Lynmouth Floods were caused by rain-making experiments “Europe is stealing rain from Iran”

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Endword

Acknowledgements

Image and Information credits

Preface This book is unlike any other science books about rain. It is eccentric, cool, weird and funny and most of all out of your expectations. I chose to write and compile this book not because the topic is odd and unusual, but it was born out of my love for everything to do with rain (actually just the sceneries and feel of rain, nothing else). When I started to write this book, my expectations about what rain is and what it can be was widen. I was surprised at how an ordinary thing could turn out to be something so extraordinary, especially when you’re living in a country that receives lots of rain and you don’t even realize it. The rain might make some of you gloomy on certain days, but I assure you that this book is nothing but mind-blowing (at least that’s what I hope it is going to be).

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Introduction Welcome to the bizarre world of rain! This book compiles all the strange and intriguing facts about rain and also some other things that is loosely related to it. You might have seen a substantial amount of rain in your life, but do you really know everything related to it? There are still things in life that will still leave you wide-mouthed.

This volume is full of rain fact, not the boring facts related to rain speed, inches of rain per year and the sort. It is full of peculiar and impossible things falling from the sky. It throws at you lesser known facts about and related to rain, such as the colourful languages used to describe it, beautiful and awesome art works created by artist about it, eccentric umbrellas and even conspiracies about that rose due to man trying to control the weather.

Feel free to start reading anywhere you like, whether in sequence or randomly if you can’t wait to see what’s in store in the next few pages.

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Weird things falling from the sky Raining fish from the sky Starlings rain down, dead Money falling from the sky Run, it’s raining spiders!

Worms are falling out of the sky!

Mysterious jelly falls from the sky Blood rain fell Edible fresh meat rains down Creepy “Vampire fish” falls from the sky in Alaska It’s snowing coloured snow!

A cow falls from the sky and sinks a boat

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Whirlwinds carries fishes into the air and drops them somewhere else

Raining fish from the sky This is a pretty common phenomenon, as it happens in many parts of the world and also throughout history itself.

Whirlwinds or tornadoes move over water and spins the water, forming a waterspout. It could lift all the water in a pond and everything living in it into the air.

Not only fishes, but other animals such as newts and frogs have rained down.

Sometimes the fish fall in a frozen state, and some fish survive the journey through the sky.

Starlings rain down, dead They are many reports of birds falling from the sky, dead. One of the accounts reported by Mail Online is about scores of starlings, or birds falling out of the sky into a garden of a Somerset house. More than a hundred of starlings covered an area of 12ft, most of them dead and some barely alive.

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When examined, they had injuries but no trace of physical illness, shedding no light on the cause of death of the starlings.

Money falling from the sky Can you believe it? Free cash raining from the sky, it must only happen in paradise. But apparently, it rained money in Dubai. When it happened, pedestrians can be seen picking up notes on the pavement and even in the middle of the road. The notes are 500 UAE Dirham notes, which is around RM512 in Malaysian Ringgit. Who wouldn’t want such a huge amount of cash?

Run, it’s raining spiders!

Thousands of baby spiders rained down from the sky in Goulburn, South Australia. Commonly known as ‘spider rain’, it is a very common phenomenon across parts of Australia.

The spiders weave a web together in high places and then jump off using it as a parachute to let the wind take them to anywhere they want to go.

It happens very often, but people don’t notice it because they rarely migrate in such numbers.

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Worms are falling out of the sky!

In Norway, thousands of them are falling from the sky in the southern areas of the country. The worms were discovered by a biology teacher who came across it while skiing in the mountains near Bergen. The worms were on the surface of the snow, still alive. He thought it wiggled its way through the snow but the snow was a metre thick in some places so he dismissed the thought. More reports of falling worms have been reported after this teacher told his story.

The teacher didn’t actually see the worms rain down, but in 2011, a group of student playing football at a school in Scotland witnessed it.

When the worms started to rain on students from the Galashiels Academy in Selkirkshire, they had to abandon their game.

Worms were found on the surface of the snow in Norway

Mysterious jelly falls from the sky Many reported globs of white jelly falling from the sky, especially in the British Isles where it happens more often. It is a gooey and smelly goop that often appears after meteor showers too, which gave it the name ‘Star Jelly’, ‘Space jelly’ and another ‘pwdre ser’ (which is Welsh for “rot of the gods”) No one knows what these jelly really are and where they come from, but it did inspire a 1958 horror movie called ‘The Blob’.

Interestingly, it has also been discovered and even mentioned in literature centuries ago. Two playwrights or writers wrote in their play about the finding jelly alongside shooting stars.

In the 1678 play Oedipus, John Dryden wrote: “The shooting stars all end in purple jellies, And chaos is at hand.”

Another novelist Sir Walter Scott similarly mentioned something about star jellies in his novel in 1825, The Talisman: “Seek a fallen star,” said the hermit, “and thou shalt only light on some foul jelly, which, in shooting through the horizon, has assumed for a moment an appearance of splendour.”

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Blobs of jelly were found scattered on the grass.

Blood rain fell On 25th July 2001, red rain fell from the sky in Changanassery, the Kerala district in Western India. The red rain was potent that it could even dye clothing. Residents in the area said that they heard thunder like they’ve never heard before. The first analysis of the rain showed that the water is clear, with red particles in it. Left untouched, the particles will settle as dust.

Edible fresh meat rains down The New York Times reported the incident on 9th March 1876, Louisville, Kentucky. It rained down near a house Allen Crouch. Ms. Crouch was making soap out in her yard when fresh meat started to rain from the sky around her. She described it as large snowflakes falling down, the pieces generally not being much larger. One particular piece that fell near her was 3 or 4 inches square. The sky was perfectly clear at that time.

Apparently, the meat was fresh when it first fell.

Two men who tasted it said that it was either mutton or venison.

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Some locals in Alaska reported finding live lamprey fish on land.

Creepy “Vampire fish” falls from the sky in Alaska The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) has gotten strange calls from Fairbanks residents seeing scary looking fish falling from above. This happened over the last weeks, and CBS News reported it on 9 June 2015.

The fishes were found on the ground by the locals, as the ADF&G reported on its Facebook page “The local Value Village store found a live lamprey in their parking lot,” and “Another resident called and said he found one on his lawn!”

Growing up to 15 inches long, the lamprey fish’s long body makes it look more like an eel compared to a fish, having no scales or fins. It doesn’t look very scary until you’ve taken a peek into their mouths, instead of jaws they have a disk-like mouth filled with sharp teeth. It looks like a creature straight out of your nightmares.

The creepy mouth is used by Adult lampreys to clamp their mouths onto other fish. They then use their tongue to scrape through the scales to feed on blood and fluids. When they are done with their meal they detach themselves from the fish.

The fish may die from the attack but according to the Fish and Game department, the fish survives in most cases. Commercial fishers in Alaska will already be familiar with the signs that a salmon or trout has been fed upon by lampreys. The fishes will have a dime-sized circular scar on their body.

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These lampreys are usually not found on land, and most people never had the chance to see the elusive fish up close. They are born in fresh water and move to the ocean when they mature as adults. When spawning, they return to the rivers where they are born, including the Chena River which runs along the south side of Fairbanks.

It is not known how the fishes ended up on land, but the Wildlife officials believe that sea gulls picked up the fish only to drop them in odd and surprising places. Only four lamprey have been found on land so far.

Snow with red blotches on the ground

It’s snowing coloured snow!

Regions in Western Siberia snowed yellow coloured snow in February 2007 that felt greasy when touched. The explanation was provided by Nina Sakhanovskayda from the Tomsk chemical laboratory. The yellow snow is because of dust from Central Asia, and it can be carried to a height of 10-20 miles in the sky. The yellow snow was not harmful.

But not all snow are coloured until they reach the ground. They are causes by algae that turn snow into different colours based on the different types of algae. It ranges from colours such as red, blue, green or yellow.

Green snow The most commonly found species is Chlamydomonas, a green algae. Their green pigment comes from the chlorophyll that helps them get energy from light.

Pink snow

The pink tint in the snow is caused by a pink pigment contained in Chlamydomonas nivalis that offsets the chlorophyll.

Chlamydomonas seen under the microscope

Orange and Red snow Both these coloured snow also contain chlorophyll, but their colouring comes from pigments used to protect them from ultra violet light, according to Ron Hoham who is a professor of biology at Colgate University.

When the snow compacts, the colours intensify and leave colour footprints behind human and animal wanderers.

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A cow falls from the sky and sinks a boat Sounds funny right? But it really did happened in Japan when one of the men who survived the fishing trawler wreck claimed that a cow fell from the sky and crashed into their boat, creating a huge hole.

The men were held in custody by the police for a few weeks before Russian air officials told the Japanese authorities what had really happened. It seems that the crew of a Russian cargo plane stole a cow that wandered near their Siberian airfield and loaded it unto their plane on their flight back

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home. When the plane was in the air, the cow panicked and kept jumping around, making the plane unstable. So the equally panicked crew pushed the cow overboard while they were travelling through the Sea of Japan at 30,000ft.

But wait! That’s not all.

It turns out that it is only a legend and might not be real. New York Times published an article about this story and later corrected it.

This is the correction: “An article on Jan. 16 about drilling for oil off the coast of Angola erroneously reported a story

about cows falling from planes, as an example of risks in any engineering endeavor. No cows, smuggled or otherwise, ever fell from a plane into a Japanese fishing rig. The story is an urban legend, and versions of it have been reported in Scotland, Germany, Russia and other locations.”

It’s too absurd to be true now is it?

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Things about rain that make more sense The desert isn’t the least rainy place on earth Rain doesn’t always hit the ground There’s a way to get less wet in the rain The colour and shape of the cloud can help you predict rain It’s raining diamonds in another planet

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The McMurdo Dry Valleys is the driest place on earth

The desert isn’t the least rainy place on earth The desert has very little amount of rain, and they are some of the driest places on earth. But the Antarctica has received no rain for millions of years!

Specifically, the driest place is in the “McMurdo Dry Valleys�.

This windy and dry cold desert has very little snow, so it is no surprise that it is the largest Icefree region in Antarctica. Rain cannot form (Rain shadow effect) because air flowing down from the polar plateau to the coast is forced over the Trans Antarctic Mountains, turning moisture into snow.

Though it is a desert but it holds a river and lakes that contain water and they never dry out, the longest and largest river in Antarctica, the Onyx runs through the Dry Valleys. Some of the lakes are frozen at the surface and some completely frozen (Dry bottomed lake) from the base such as Lake Vida.

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Mummufied seal lying in the McMurdo Dry Valleys.

Rain doesn’t always hit the ground This type of rain is called Virga. It is Latin for ‘rod’ or ‘branch’. It occurs in dry, hot places where rain evaporates before it has a chance to reach the ground. Environmentalist Edward Abbey describes what he calls as “phantom rain” in a creative way: “You see curtains of rain dangling in the sky while the living things wither below for want of water.

Torture by tantalizing, hope without fulfillment.

Then the clouds dissipate into nothingness.”

There’s a way to get less wet in the rain A video by Minute Physics calculates that you should run instead of walk in the rain. Scan the code to watch the video on YouTube. Even if you hit extra raindrops from the side, but you should minimize the rain from the top of your head, which constantly falls and makes you wet. Scan the code to watch the video.

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Have you ever wanted to be able to predict rain so you know which day to bring an umbrella or whether you should hurry back home before the rain starts pouring heavily? There are some signs that tell you if it’s going to rain, but here are some more tips to understand the type of clouds and the type of rain that they produce.

Stratocumulus clouds

Cumulonimbus clouds

Cumulus means ‘heaped’ or ‘piled’, and forms throughout the troposphere. The ones that are lower are called Stratocumulus, they usually denote fair weather.

This type of cloud which produces rain, lightning and thunder is called cumulonimbus. They form during hot or humid weather.

Stratus clouds

Altostratus clouds

There are two types of stratus clouds, nimbostratus and altostratus. Nimbo and nimbus mean “rain”, so Nimbostratus clouds bring heavy rains or snow.

Altostratus is stratus clouds higher up in the sky.

Cirrocumulus clouds Cirrocumulus clouds are formed at the highest part of the sky.

They are completely composed of ice crystals and appear just before a rainfall or snowfall.

Cirrostratus clouds This type of cloud rarely forms and when they do they produce a halo around the sun or moon when the light passes through the ice crystals.

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Atmospheric data on Saturn and Jupiter suggest that carbon is abundant in a dazzling crystal form (BBC News, 2013).

It’s raining diamonds in another planet On earth, diamonds are produced when carbon is heated in high temperatures, turning the carbon into diamonds. It works roughly the same way for diamonds formed on the Saturn and Jupiter. When lightning storms turn methane into soot (which is made up of carbon),

“Diamonds big enough to be worn by Hollywood film stars could be raining down on Saturn and Jupiter, US scientists have calculated.” it falls and become chunks of graphite, then turn into diamonds.

Dr Kevin Baines from the University of WisconsinMadison and Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory says that the largest diamonds can measure up to a centimetre in diameter, which uncut would be big enough to put on a ring.

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Rain in art Rain Room Rain Bottle Kinetic Rain Rain Works

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You’ll never get wet walking in the rain inside this rain room.

Rain room Imagine walking into the rain but not getting wet no matter how much you move around, and then start to think that you have an ability to be rainproof. It would be very convenient in real life but it is only possible in the Barbican Art Gallery where the rain is simulated indoors. Water rains down from the valves above the room and 3D camera detectors track your body shape and movement to close or open the valves individually.

The idea developed from using water to print.

To how it works and a commentary on how the idea came about, scan the code below to watch the video.

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Each bottle contains a type of rain based on the many words to decribe rain.

Rain Bottles This is a series of bottles created by Nendo based on the concept that the Japanese has 50 words for rain. A row of astounding glass bottles stand in the gallery holding something inside that represents a word for rain. However, Nendo only picked 20 words out of the 50 to be kept alive forever in this art installation. But still, this 20 are enough to keep you looking at it in sheer wonder of its fine beauty. Scan the code to look at the pictures at their official website.

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Raindrops rise and fall in harmony at Changi Airport .

Kinetic Rain Located inside the Changi Airport in Singapore above the terminal’s two central escalators, raindrops hanging from the ceiling move in perfect synchrony to form pattern and shapes. It is controlled by computer controlled motors that raise the 608 copper-plated aluminium drops on steel wires up and down. Looking at it gives a calm feeling, providing rest for tired travellers. Follow the link in the code to look at it in the video.

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Rain Works When the rain falls, cheerful and fun pictures and messages appear on the ground, bringing a smile to those walking past them. Some encourages people to forget the gloom at the moment and have a little fun in the rain. The creator of these fun street arts is Peregrine Church.

In Seattle, it rains very often and that became the inspiration for this Rainworks. It was also created to give people a reason to look forward to rain while making rainy days fun.

Using a Superhydrophobic coating (a type of water repellent), the artworks could be seen when the rainwater is repelled from the artwork.

To see more of the artworks go to their website using the code below.

More images on the next page 34

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Predicting the weather using old wives’ tales Introduction “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky in the morning, sailor’s take warning” Cows lie down when it is about to rain “Three days rain will empty any sky” “In the morning mountains, in the afternoon fountains” A halo around the moon as a warning of rain or snow “Pink Crocus lilies will flower when rain is coming” An increase in the number of black cockatoos in an area is an indicator of rain Sighting of emu chicks is a sign that the wet season is coming

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Introduction Predicting the weather is an art form, before scientific methods with higher accuracy was invented. Farmers observed the signs preceding the weather and passed them on as sayings.

Nevertheless, there are many which come from good observation, many even turn out to be pretty reliable. Here are some that mean might help predict the weather.

“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky in the morning, sailor’s take warning” The tint of the red sky at night is caused by the sun’s light reflecting off the clouds, it means that a storm system is approaching and building up.

A boater named Brown commented that if a red sky is seen in the morning, it means that the weather in the seas is not going to be fair.

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“If I get up in the morning and the sky has turned red, it’s a good chance the seas are kicking up and wind is kicking up ... a good sign that the ocean is going to be choppy,”

Cows lie down when it is about to rain It is a British farming folklore, that herds of cows lie down when rain is coming. It seems false and completely untrue at first, but a recent study Universities of Arizona and Northern Missouri suggest that this sign is not completely unfounded.

According to the researchers, cows tend to stand up more when the weather is hot, and lie down when it is colder. They do it to lower or retain their body temperature. This study definitely proves that there is a link between the weather and the cows’ behaviour.

“Three days rain will empty any sky” Without a doubt, this is probably the easiest to believe logically. Generally rain doesn’t last very long, and most of the time it doesn’t last for more than three days. No matter how much the skies cry they have to run out of tears eventually. No further explanations needed.

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“In the morning mountains, in the afternoon fountains�

Translation: If you see cumulus clouds in the morning, it will rain heavily in the afternoon.

To put it in a more detailed way, it will rain in the afternoon if clouds build up in the morning.

Thunder clouds usually form in a consistent pattern, mostly during summer months or hot weather.

Small cumulus clouds form in the sky as the sun heats the air and ground.

With just the right atmospheric conditions, the clouds will grow into cauliflower-like mountains. It should reach the top part of the atmosphere by afternoon to bring rain and lightning.

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A halo around the moon as a warning of rain or snow A white halo seen around the moon on cold nights is caused by cirrus clouds. Remember the chapter about predicting rain by looking at the types of clouds? If you have not, go to page 26 to have a look.

The halo is made of ice crystals instead of water droplets, and it forms such a thin layer that the moonlight shines through it, forming a halo.

It is not a definite predictor for snow, but it definitely means that they weather is going to be cold and a storm system is forming.

"Pink Crocus lilies will flower when rain is coming" In Western Queensland, Australia, Mary Killeen from Navarra Station near Yaraka says that she do not believe in most of the old wives' tales but comments that the lilies are somewhat reliable.

As she puts it that "Believe it or not they are reasonably accurate, even if you only get a few drops... [the lilies] normally they know what they're talking about."

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An increase in the number of black cockatoos in an area is an indicator of rain Joanne Milne from Loongana Station close to Longreach mentions that she has seen quite a few black cockatoos in her property in October and November. It doesn’t always mean that rain will soon follow, so she says that “...we’ll know, I suppose, by the end of February whether they’re a tale worth passing on.”

Sighting of emu chicks is a sign that the wet season is coming Alison Milson, who resides on a property not far from Longreach for more than 40 years says that this particular old wives’ tale is undependable, because she says that “I’ve seen it fail too many times!”

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It’s raining in different languages The Japanese have 50 words to describe rain Other Japanese words related to rain Rain sound effects Idioms that describe heavy rain

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The Japanese have 50 words to describe rain Japan receives lots of rain every year, so rain has a huge influence in their culture. One of the biggest influences is the way the Japanese describe rain. The expression of rain does not only express common words such as rain, heavy rain, light rain or drizzle, it can even go as far as depicting refreshing rain that falls every ten days to rain from a cloudless sky (literally ‘sky tears’ in direct translation).

雨

大雨

小糠雨

細雨

Rain

Heavy Rain

Fine Rain

Drizzle

小降り

強雨

集中豪雨

風雨

Light rain

Severe rain

Severe localized downpour

Wind and rain

ame

koburi

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ooame

kyouu

konukaame

shuuchuugouu

saiu

fuu

L

煙雨

横降り

吹き降り

Misty rain

driving rain

Driving rain

晴後雨

雪交じり

Clear then rain

Snow and rain

Rain then snow

雨模様

雨上り

Signs of rain

After the rain

秋雨

凍雨

Autumn rain

Winter rain

enu

夜雨 yau

Night rain

氷雨 hisame

yokoburi

harenochiame

天泣

tenkyuu

Very cold rain or hail

Rain from a cloudless sky

春雨

緑雨

Gentle spring rain

Early-summer rain

shun u

ryokuu

fukiburi

yukimajiri

amamoyou

akisame

夕立

yuudachi

Sudden evening rain

雨後雪

amenochiyuki

amaagari

touu

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Other Japanese words related to rain

雨男/雨女 (ame otoko/ame onna)

置き傘 (oki-gasa)

This is a name for a person whose presence always seems to be accompanied by rain or bad weather. The opposite expressions are 晴れ男/晴 れ女 (hare otoko/hare onna), it is used for those who seem to bring good weather.

At times, even though it is clear in the morning, it will start raining in the middle of the day. It is for times like these that many people keep an extra umbrella at school or workplace, it is called an ‘oki-gasa’.

折り畳み傘 (ori-tatami gasa) These are collapsible umbrellas sold in large numbers. It can be bothersome to carry a bulky full-length umbrella in uncertain weather. When you’re not sure whether it will rain or not, it’s reassuring to have a foldable umbrella in your bag or briefcase. Lately, folding umbrellas that weigh as little as 100 grams have been designed.

傘立て(Kasa-tate)

梅雨 (Tsuyu) Literally it means “plum rain”, the word 梅 “tsu” means plum. It’s the rainy season that lasts around 30 days from around the 10th of July. The rain that falls during this time of the year coincide with the season the plum trees ripen. There’s another word for dry spells in predominatly clear weather during this rainy season, which is 空梅雨 (Kara tsuyu).

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Most of the houses as well as entrances to public buildings have umbrella stands. The umbrella stands are usually brought out in public places when it starts raining. You might worry about your umbrella getting stolen while inside the building, but most of the time you need not worry. Of course, there are some that do go missing when a lot of people gather in one place. Sometimes, places such as hotels and museums have locks with removable keys. Supermarkets and department stores encourage customers to carry their umbrellas into the store, providing plastic bags at the entrance to prevent it from dripping.

相合い傘 (Aiai-gasa) “Two under the same umbrella” is linked with couples in love.

It is a simple sketch with the names of the couple on each side of the umbrella, which means “Moriyoshi and Noriko like each other.”

てるてる坊主 (teru-teru boozu) On the night before a school trip, it looks like it’s going to rain. This usually calls for a “postponed in case of rain”雨天延期 (uten enki), the opposite is “going ahead in case of rain”雨天決行 (uten kekkoo). It would be really disappointing to wake up and find that it is raining on a much anticipated outing.

雨風って地固まる(Ame futte ji katamaru).

This phrase suggests that just as the earth settles more solidly in a landfill after a rain, understanding can often be reached after a certain amount of argument and turmoil has happened.

雨どい (Amadoi) A gutter that channels rain water from the roof to the ground or drain.

In Japan, we can still see little children making “fair-weather” dolls called teru-teru boozu, they then hang them outside the window. It is made by covering a ball of padding with a square piece of paper or cloth which is usually white to form a round head, and then tying a string or thread at the “neck”. A face is then drawn on one side.

Rain sound effects

ぽつぽつ (Potsu-potsu)

ザザ (Zaa-zaa)

The sound of scattered rain drops falling, such as the start of rain.

This is heavy rain beating down with a fierce pounding sound, which is a downpour.

しとしと (Shito-shito) This is the sound of a continuous, steady rain that falls all day. It’s a fine precipitation without sound, a quiet and enveloping rain.

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Idioms that describe heavy rain We’ve all heard of the idiom “It’s raining cats and dogs”. But unless you know multiple languages or lived in different countries, you won’t even realize the number of equally eccentric idioms used to describe heavy rain.

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“It’s raining pilot whales.”

Faroe Islands (Faroese): Tað regnar av grind

“It’s raining like a pissing cow.”

France (French): Il pleut comme vache qui pisse.

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“It’s raining puppies.”

Germany (German): Es regnet junge Hunde.

“It’s raining frogs.”

Poland (Polish): Pada ?abami.

France (French): Il pleut des grenouilles.

Romania (Romanian): Plou? cu broa?te.

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“It’s raining chair legs.”

Greece (Greek): Rixnei kareklopodara

“It’s throwing cobblers’ knives.”

Ireland (Irish): Tá sé ag caitheamh sceana gréasaí.

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“Tractors are falling.”

Slovak (Czech Republic): Padajú traktory.

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Eccentric umbrellas Introduction Umbrella that holds your coffee for you “Dualbrella” “Wheel and Seal” umbrella “Full body umbrella” “Dogbrella” Glowing LED Light Saber Umbrella Squirt gun umbrella “Off the course” umbrella Parasol clock

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Introduction When the rain starts to fall, umbrellas start to open and rise among crowds. Then, you catch sight of someone walking around with one that makes your day because they are pretty, cool or just plain special. Read on for some pretty unique umbrellas.

Umbrella that holds your coffee for you One rainy morning you walk into a cafe to buy a cup of coffee before heading out. Then you realized that you just made a mistake because both of your hands are full with one holding the umbrella and the other the coffee you just bought.

If you can relate to this, then this umbrella is probably made just for you.

“Dualbrella�

The perfect umbrella for lovely couples, no explanations needed. Anyway, with this in hand, you and your special someone or maybe just your friend can get better protection from the rain and stay drier. No more awkward squeezing and trying to balance out the getting yourself or the other person to stay dry.

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“Wheel and Seal” umbrella Bad weather can make anyone depressed, so taiwanese designers Yu-Ting Cheng, Yu-Hsun Chung and Shaw-Chen Chen created this “wheel umbrella” for children. It has wheels that will leave impressions of smiley faces on the floor using rain puddles.

“Full body umbrella” If you’ve been wondering why no one else invented something better to keep dry from the rain, then someone did think of combining many umbrellas to keep dry. I guess umbrellas are one of the things that haven’t changed much throughout the centuries.

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“Dogbrella” For pooches who want to take a stroll without getting their fur wet, this is the perfect accessory.

Having a diameter of only 29 inches, this umbrella is only suitable for smaller dogs. This will keep your dog dry, provided they stay under it.

Glowing LED Light Saber Umbrella Any Star Wars fan might want to get their hands on this. It’d be cool to walk around at night with the top of an umbrella stab with a ‘Light Saber’. At least that’s what it looks like if you’re pretending to wield a ‘Light Saber’.

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Squirt gun umbrella Relive your childhood with this water gun. Alex Woolley, a London-based designer created this squirt gun umbrella that he calls “Encouraging Adults to Play in the Rain”. Rainwater is harnessed down through the handle and into the gun. This is still in the concept stage.

“Off the course” umbrella Care for a game of golf after the rain? This peculiar umbrella was inspired by the designer Sebastian Errazuriz’s golf outings during rainy days. When living in Scotland, he and his friends usually find themselves carrying golf clubs and umbrellas simultaneously, which was where the inspiration came from.

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Parasol clock Designed by Kota Nezu, this umbrella acts as a sundial, with a compass on the handle to locate North and South. The grids on the inside of the umbrella dome has lines indicating the hours of the day and also horizontal lines showing the summer, winter, spring and autumn equinox. After locating the poles, the user holds the umbrella in front of them making sure that they are positioned facing due south, the north point of the compass facing the user. Then the south point is lined up with the number 12 on the grid. the sun’s position on the grid will show the approximate season and time.

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It’s not Mother Nature, it’s a conspiracy!

History of rain-making Rain-makers Project Popeye Project Stormfury Beijing used rockets to prevent rain during the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics The Lynmouth Floods were caused by rain-making experiments “Europe is stealing rain from Iran”

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Introduction Because rain is such a crucial thing in life that man has tried many ways to summon or dispel rain for ages throughout history. Attempts to make rain have been made in hopes of producing rain.

This chapter holds some conspiracies about possible weather modification. It may or may not be true, but these are the suspicions of some in the world today.

Before going into the various conspiracies about possible weather modification, we’ll look into the history of rain-making first. If you want to jump straight into the conspiracy stuff, jump to page 69.

History of rain-making In the first century A.D., a Greek historian, Plutarch observed that rain often follow battles. He thought that it might be nature’s way of purifying the air and ground.

The idea had revolved eighteen centuries later during the time of Napoleon. It was believed that rain could be produced by adding chemicals or by making loud sounds to disrupt the atmospheric equilibrium.

So Napoleon was known to fire artillery into the air in hopes for a heavy downpour to surprise and disable the enemy. This was called the “Concussion Theory of Rainmaking”, it is an idea that have continued to gain traction up until the Civil War.

Rain-makers 1891: General Robert Dyrenforth The U.S Congress hired retired Brigadier General Robert Dyrenforth to conduct a series of rainmaking experiments in Texas. He used artillery and balloon-carrying explosives. But after claiming some bit of “success”, he was laughed at for his absurd methods.

Not only did he not make rain, but his main accomplishment was a series of prairie fires.

Hence, he was given the nickname “Dry-Henceforth”.

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Stiger Vortex Rainmaking Canons for “cloud shooting”

Charles M. Hatfield

Rain-making towers used by Hatfield to release his chemicals to create rain.

1916: Charles M. Hatfield Charles M. Hatfield, the self-proclaimed “Wizard of the Weather” and “Robin Hood of the Clouds,” undertook his “wizardry” during the early part of the 20th century. Hatfield took advantage of the periodic droughts which occurs at that time. He was a very clever charlatan, unlike Dyrenforth who really believed in his own methods.

One thing he did create is a secret chemical concoction called a “moisture accelerator,” which he released using artificial towers. It’s not clear whether he believes if the mixture had any real value.

Being an amateur meteorologist himself, he relies on official weather records. When Hatfield began offering his services to make rain, there were approximately 30 years of official records for many American cities. At the time, water wars were raging in the West and Hatfield knew the desperation of those in the farming community and the scarce rainfall in large cities.

During water shortages, Hatfield and his brother will offer their services, but they would try to drag the time by warning them that it will take time for the towers to be built, air to be “moisturized” and clouds to build up. Hat field described his method

as “sowing seed and then nurturing the seedlings”.

This seemed pretty logical and resonated well to with the farmers, so he usually gets the job.

But the farmers didn’t know that Hatfield reviewed the existing weather records to find the most likely time of the year for rain, and won’t start his job until that time, which will give him a higher probability for success. Because of this, his reputation grew.

The downfall of Hatfield In, 1916 Hatfield’s downfall came as the city of San Diego which was suffering from a drought called for his service. Actually, Hatfield was the one who came calling to the city, which offered him $10,000 if he could fill up the main reservoir in the city, Lake Morena (or Moreno) to the extent of overflowing. Hatfield then set up shop outside of town.

Coastal San Diego averages only 10 inches of rain per year and 40 inches in the inland mountains. But over a couple of years, a serious drought had been unfolding and the main reservoir of San Diego was greatly depleted.

Hatfield released his chemicals in early January

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1916 and probably as he planned, the skies soon opened up. But unfortunately for him, the rain flooded San Diego and environs with up to 35 inches of rain.

The estimated destruction caused by the flood was $13.5 million ($263,000,000 in today’s dollars).

The flood washed away citrus groves, dams and homes. Of course, it would be no surprise that

Project Popeye During the 20th century, various schemes were executed to increase or decrease rainfall or winds.

One of them was Project Popeye which ran from 1967-72 during the Vietnamese War. It was designed to extend the monsoon in Laos so that the enemy have difficulty moving supplies and troops. It was partly successful.

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Hatfield refused to take the blame for the disaster.

He said that it was an act of God, which actually was. But the city decided that unless he accepts the liability for the damages, he will not get paid.

He refused and it turned out to Hatfield that his only ‘reward’ was a plaque.

Project Stormfury This is one of the better known U.S. weather modification programs, lasting from 1962-1983.

Designed to test the capability of weakening hurricanes by seeding them with silver iodide crystals, it was never completely proven. The program received a bad reputation which it never entirely recovered from when Hurricane Betsy suddenly and unexpectedly slammed into the Bahamas and Sothern Florida in 1965. The storm was not seeded, but no one else believed this, not even the Congress.

Beijing used rockets to prevent rain during the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics China’s multimillion-pound effort to manipulate the Olympic weather seemed to have worked as the downpour that should have fallen on Friday night was averted. To ensure the 2008 Olympic opening ceremony was precipitation-free, the Olympic organisers fired a barrage of 1,220 rockets into the evening sky.

They would not need to prevent the sky from raining if they had made a roof on the “Brird’s Nest” Olympic stadium, because there was a sharp rise in steel prices a couple of years ago they decided to remove it.

Rockets were fired from 21 places in the city to intercept a potentially disrupting rain belt and trigger premature showers before they reach the capital. South-west of Beijing, Baoding city received about 4 inches of precipitation on Friday night but the rain held off in the capital, even though the rainy season is in August in the usually tinder-dry Beijing.

It has become a tradition to seed the clouds before public holidays in Beijing, such as National Day on 1st October. It’s done to make rain, disperse pollution and make sure that there are clear skies on that day. Weather modification is a crucial government department, with nearly 40,000 people in it, in which 3,000 are working with an arsenal of 7,000 cannons and 4,687 rocket launchers. They possess a budget of around

£50m, but when it comes to the Olympics money is no objection. Manipulating the weather might also reduce air pollution during the Games so the organizers plan to generate rain to clear smog if needed.

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The Lynmouth Floods were caused by rainmaking experiments One of the worst flash floods in Britain happened on August 15, 1952 in Devon village, Lynmouth.

As 95 tons of water and thousands of rocks swept into the village, destroying homes, shops, bridges and hotels, 35 lives were lost.

It was officially termed “the hand of God”, but formerly classified government files suggests that an international team working with the Royal Air Force (RAF) was experimenting with artificial manmade rain in southern Britain the same week the flood happened.

Squadron Leader Len Otley who worked on Operation Cumulus, told the BBC that they jokingly called the rainmaking experiments as Operation Witch Doctor. Group Captain John Hart, who was his navigator recalls the success of the early experiments: “We flew straight through the top of the cloud, poured dry ice down into the cloud. We flew down to see if any rain came out of the cloud. And it did about 30 minutes later, and we all cheered.”

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The BBC investigation has proved that secret experiments were the cause of the heavy rainfall.

But until now the Meteorological Office has denied every allegation of any rain-making experiments carried out before 1955.

A 50 year old radio broadcast was uncovered by Radio 4. It described Alan Yates, an aeronautical engineer and glider pilot working with Operation Cumulus at that time, flying over Bedfordshire and spraying quantities of salt. He was excited when he was told by the scientists that this had led to a heavy downpour 50 miles away over Staines, in Middlesex.

But isn’t missing documents around that time suspicious? Many called for investigations to be made to find out the source of this disaster, but their cries fell on deaf ears as no full investigations were made.

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The country’s low raindall trend is somewhat the result of its enemies destroying the clouds, according to the Iranian president.

“Europe is stealing rain from Iran” In May 2011, the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made the claim at inauguration of a dam in a central province. Ironically, it started to rain moments after he said it.

Mr Ahmadinejad said in the city of Arak in Markazi province that:

“Western countries have designed plans to cause drought in certain areas of the world, including Iran” In support of his argument, he recalled an article by “a Western politician”, in which “droughts in some regions spanning from Turkey and Iran to east of Asia are predicted for the next 30 years.”

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Mr Ahmadinejad also said that: “The regions (referred to in) the article ... include countries whose culture and civilisation frighten the West,” It should be no surprise as Iranian leaders claim on a daily basis that Western countries, led by the United States, is devising “plots” to weaken the the Islamic republic and impede its economic and scientific development. They also accuse the world powers of conspiring against the independence, national unity, political establishment, culture and international relations.

In July, the head of Iran’s cultural heritage organization, Hassan Mousayi and one of Mr Ahmadinejad’s vice-presidents, urged meteorological experts to make an investigation on the possibility of the West engineering a draught in southern Iran, one of the country’s most parched regions.

In September 2012, Mr Ahmadinejad made a similar claim again, that the west is destroying Iran’s rain clouds.

During a speech in a speech in the Caspian Sea city of Gonbad-e Kavus to mark its registration as a Unesco World Heritage site, Mr Ahmadinejad said that:

“Today our country is moving towards drought, which is partly unintentional due to industry and partly intentional, as a result of the enemy destroying the clouds moving towards our country and this is a war that Iran is going to overcome”

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Endword At last we’ve come to the end of this book. This book serves to remind us that the ordinary things in life can still be extraordinary. Before ending this book I would like to recommend something that I hope will be able to inspire you throughout your daily life.

In tiring and dull days, there’s an app that you can download and listen to the sound of rain anytime you want. There’s something calming about listening to the sound of rain, and it could help you get to sleep if you have trouble sleeping. Here are two apps as a start.

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Rain Sounds Having pretty realistic sounds, this app contains nine different water sounds, six of which are rain sounds. Paired with beautiful design and pictures, this app allows you to immerse yourself in the sounds of rain, be it a light rain or rain pattering on the window, this app contains a few types of rain to suit your preferences.

Rain, Rain sleep For iphone users, the previous app won’t be available. This is another similar app, with a wider variety of sounds and functions. There are 49 high quality sounds to choose from and you can even mix some of the sounds together!

Sit back and get lost in the magical world of rain, as you listen to the constant patter of rain.

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Acknowledgements I would like to thank a certain few that have helped in the development of this book, my friend Yoke Poh and Jamie Tan for giving comments and ideas every now and then, Karin Zulkarnain for sharing my love for rain and also helped me jumpstart this book, and finally I-Ching who gave me tips and ideas to improve the design of this book.

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Image and information credits Page Weird things falling from the sky 13

BBC Supernatural (raining fish!!!!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKWfNSFXzqw Grisly mystery after scores of starlings fall out of the sky and lie dying... in a SINGLE front garden http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1256840/Mystery-scores-starlings-fall-sky-lay-dying--single-garden.html

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The ‘spider rain’ phenomenon explained. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11613129/The-spider-rain-phenomenon-explained.html It’s raining MONEY: Motorists stop cars in disbelief after CASH falls from the sky http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/559940/VIDEO-It-s-raining-MONEY-in-Dubai

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Why is it raining worms in Norway? Bizarre weather phenomenon sees creatures fall from the sky across the south of the country http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3042157/Why-raining-worms-Norway-Bizarre-weather-phenomenon-seescreatures-fall-sky-south-country.html Space Jelly http://tvblogs.nationalgeographic.com/2010/06/01/space-jelly/ The real-life Blob: Is mysterious translucent jelly found in Cumbrian Fells from outer space? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2052189/The-real-life-Blob-Is-mysterious-translucent-jelly-Cambrian-fellsouter-space.html

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IT’S RAINING BLOOD! http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/wild/stranger-than-nature/videos/its-raining-blood/ Flesh descending in a shower http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9403E5D81E3FE73BBC4852DFB566838D669FDE

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Terrifying “vampire fish” falling from the sky in Alaska http://www.cbsnews.com/news/vampire-fish-falling-from-the-sky-in-alaska/

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Is Fresh Snow Always White? http://www.livescience.com/32265-is-snow-always-white.html

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Cow Tao http://www.snopes.com/critters/farce/cowtao.asp Best New York Times Correction EVER: No, The Fishing Boat Was Not Sunk By The Flying Cow. http://www.businessinsider.com/best-nyt-correction-ever-no-flying-smuggled-cows-ever-sunk-any-fishing-rigs-20112#ixzz3efRVUmjD

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Things about rain that make more sense

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5 Weird Facts About Rain http://www.rd.com/slideshows/rain-facts/#slideshow=slide1

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Is it Better to Walk or Run in the Rain? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MqYE2UuN24

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Cloud spotting guide http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/learning/clouds/cloud-spotting-guide

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‘Diamond rain’ falls on Saturn and Jupiter http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-24477667

Rain in art 31

Rain Room, 2012 http://random-international.com/work/rainroom/ Barbican’s Rain Room: it’s raining, but you won’t get wet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkvazIZx-F0

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rain bottle http://www.nendo.jp/en/works/rain-bottle-2/

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Kinetic rain, 2012 https://artcom.de/en/project/kinetic-rain/

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Rainworks! http://rain.works/

Predicting the weather using old wives’ tales 39-42

Weather lore: What’s the science? http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-14087734

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Cows really can predict the rain. Scientists prove they are more likely to lie down when the weather is cold http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2293053/Cows-really-predict-rain-Scientists-prove-likely-lie-weather-cold.html

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Some old wives’ tales could help predict the weather http://www.jdnews.com/article/20140212/News/302129909

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Old wives’ tales give hope of rain to come http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2014/12/31/4156164.htm

It’s raining in different languages 47-48

Why Japanese Has 50 Words for Rain http://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/why-Japanese-has-50-words-for-rain

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Japanese Culture and Daily life http://www.tjf.or.jp/eng/content/japaneseculture/14rain.htm

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15 International Idioms That Describe Heavy Rain http://mentalfloss.com/article/12931/15-international-idioms-describe-heavy-rain It’s raining cats and dogs http://www.omniglot.com/language/idioms/rain.php

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Eccentric umbrellas

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19 Brilliant Umbrellas That Will Make Rainy Days Fun http://www.boredpanda.com/umbrella-design/

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yu ting cheng + yu hsun chung + shaw chen chen: wheel + seal umbrella http://www.designboom.com/design/yu-ting-cheng-yu-hsun-chung-shaw-chen-chen-wheel-seal-umbrella/

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Off the Course Umbrella https://www.momastore.org/museum/moma/ProductDisplay_Off-the-Course-Umbrel la_10451_10001_58949_-1_26690_11539 Squirt Gun Umbrella http://laughingsquid.com/squirt-gun-umbrella/

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Parasol doubles as a clock http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-03/01/sundial-parasol

It’s not Mother Nature, it’s a conspiracy!

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The Rainmakers: Did they make it rain? Can they? http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/559940/VIDEO-It-s-raining-MONEY-in-Dubai

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Timeline History of Weather Modification, Weather Warfare, Climate Modification, and Geoengineering (UPDATED 3.23.13) http://www.oilfreefun.com/2012/12/timeline-history-of-weather.html

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SD history: Scandals, scoundrels abound http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/feb/23/history-scandals-scoundrels-controversies/

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Ken Hackman, USAF https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Haiphong_Harbor#/media/File:KC-135A_refueling_Wild_Weasel_team_ Oct_1972.jpg

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Project STORMFURY: The Aptly-Named Mission to Stop Hurricanes Dead in Their Tracks http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/the-storm-and-the-fury How Beijing used rockets to keep opening ceremony dry http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/how-beijing-used-rockets-to-keep-opening-ceremony-dry-890294.html

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RAF rainmakers ‘caused 1952 flood’ http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/aug/30/sillyseason.physicalsciences Lynmouth flood disaster http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/news_features/2002/lynmouth_flood.shtml 60th anniversary of the Lynmouth flood http://www.northdevonjournal.co.uk/60th-anniversary-Lynmouth-flood/story-16753168-detail/story.html#5 Lynmouth flood disaster, 17 August 1952. http://www.ssplprints.com/image/83950/stephens-lynmouth-flood-disaster-17-august-1952

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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Europe ‘stealing Iran’s rain’ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8527455/Mahmoud-Ahmadinejad-says-Europestealing-Irans-rain.html Ahmadinejad accuses the West of ‘stealing Iran’s rain’ AGAIN http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2201377/Ahmadinejad-accuses-West-stealing-Irans-rain-AGAIN.html

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Endword

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Rain Sounds https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.metapps.watersounds Rain, Rain Sleep Sounds https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rain-rain-sleep-sounds/id478687481?mt=8

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