The weather on Earth can be harsh, even deadly, but in some other places in the Solar System, the weather is even more terrifying.
Acid Rain on Venus
The Akatsuki spacecraft (Japan) captured images of Venus’s clouds in ultraviolet light. (Photo: JAXA/ISAS/DARTS/Damia Bouic).
The clouds on Venus contain sulfuric acid and cover the entire planet. These clouds can produce acid rain. However, Venus is so hot that the acid rain evaporates when it is still dozens of kilometers above the surface. Furthermore, Venus’s atmosphere is so dense that the pressure on this planet is equivalent to being 900 meters underwater.
Storms Larger than Earth on Jupiter
The Great Red Spot storm in the southern hemisphere of Jupiter. (Photo: NASA).
The Doppler on Wheels (DOW) system from the Center for Severe Weather Research (CSWR) recorded the highest wind speed on Earth at 484 km/h on May 3, 1999, during a three-second gust in a tornado in Oklahoma City. If averaged over a day, the record low wind speed is about one-third of that, with a speed of 174 km/h recorded at the Port Martin research station (Antarctica) on March 21 and 22, 1951. These winds are still modest compared to those on the gas giant planets.
The Great Red Spot is a colossal anticyclonic storm on Jupiter, large enough to contain both Earth and Venus within it with room to spare. It has existed for at least 200 years, possibly almost double that time. The winds within the Great Red Spot can easily match those in the strongest tornadoes on Earth, with winds on the outer edge reaching speeds of up to 450 km/h.
Simulation of a storm on Jupiter. (Video: NASA).
Supersonic Winds on Neptune
For a truly terrifying wind experience, one must go to Neptune. According to NASA estimates, at high altitudes, wind speeds on Neptune can exceed 1,770 km/h. This means that winds on Neptune reach supersonic levels. On Earth, winds of 800 km/h can easily lift a person off the ground.
Diamond Rain
Neptune and Uranus also have another strange weather phenomenon. Experts believe that in the atmospheres of these two planets, when the pressure is high enough, carbon can turn into diamonds and fall towards the center of the planet, resulting in diamond rain.
Lightning Stronger than 1,000 Times on Earth
On Earth, lightning occurs in relatively low clouds, where water exists in all three states (liquid, solid, gas), but Jupiter is not limited in this way. This planet has clouds of ammonia and water, where ammonia acts as an antifreeze allowing lightning to occur at higher altitudes. On Earth, thunderstorms are much more common than on Saturn and Jupiter, but the lightning strikes are also significantly weaker. Researchers estimate that lightning on these two gas giants may be 1,000 times stronger than lightning on Earth.
The lightning phenomena on Jupiter are also impressive when observed in ultraviolet light. Planetary scientists have discovered sprite lightning shooting up from the tops of clouds on this planet. On Earth, sprite lightning appears as long red tendrils resembling jellyfish. They occur when lightning creates an electrostatic field at high altitudes.
