The weather is notoriously unpredictable. A well-dressed weatherman smiles brightly through your television on Monday morning, promising you a sunny day, only to be caught in a hailstorm and late for work in a dented car.
The weather can also be extremely dangerous. Tornadoes, hurricanes and blizzards, to name just a few, wreak havoc around the world every year, leaving death and destruction in their wake.
Below is a list of some of the most terrifying weather events on Earth that have been captured on camera or painted for posterity and served as a constant warning to seek shelter early.
People living across the Central Plains were overjoyed to see the sun on Sunday April 14, 1935 after weeks of massive dust storms sweeping over their farms and destroying over five million acres of wheat. The sunshine didn’t last long unfortunately and before they knew it, a terrifying 1000-mile-long black cloud approached at around 60 miles per hour (96 km per hour) and overtook those who tried to outrun it. Some people wandered off the road, blinded by the black dust. Others sat in abandoned structures for four hours, praying the dust wouldn’t smother them.
17 people died from dust pneumonia and dust suffocation and several birds were found dead after the black cloud eventually subsided. Black Sunday formed part of the devasting events of the Dust Bowl era which in total left more than half a million people homeless.
