Every winter for the last few years there have been reports
of blocks of ice mysteriously falling from the sky. Many of
them are large enough to crash through the roofs of houses.
People have accused airplanes of emptying chemical toilets
while in flight (which they don't do), but the truth is, this is
yet another symptom of global warming.
Contrails from airplanes remain in the atmosphere longer
these days, because the lower atmosphere is retaining more
heat, making the upper atmosphere colder. Also, gigantic
hailstones occur when cloud tops reach extreme heights, and
hit the cold air above the stratosphere. Pieces of these icy
clouds and contrails fall through the atmosphere, getting
bigger and bigger as they fall.
Spain is one of the first countries to study this phenomenon.
They call the giant blocks of ice that fall from the
sky "megacryometeors." In the Toledo Blade, Michael Woods
quotes astrobiologist Jesus Martinez-Frias as saying, "I'm not
worried that a block of ice may fall on your head. I'm worried
that great blocks of ice are forming where they shouldn't
exist."
Most of the megacryometeors that have been found weigh 25
to 35 pounds, but one found in Brazil weighed 440 pounds.
Last year, in ice block "half the size of a car" crashed through
the roof of an automobile dealership in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
Martinez-Frias became interested in the phenomena in
January 2000, after ice chunks weighing up to 6.6 pounds
crashed down from cloudless skies in Spain for 10 days. Most
ice blocks fall in January, February and March.
Atmospheric researcher David Travis says, "If
megacryometeor formation is linked to global warming, as we
suspect, then it is fair to assume that these events may
increase in the future?I am anxiously waiting to see what will
happen this winter. We'll be keeping a lookout, and we want
to make people in every state aware and ask their help. We
strongly encourage eyewitnesses to preserve samples, in a
freezer if need be, and contact us."
Keep an eye on the sky this winter?and be prepared to duck.
See the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" this winter, based
on Whitley and Art Bell's
book.
For more information, click here.
