1.This solar halo observed in China. Solar halos occur when light from the sun or moon reflects off ice crystals in cirrus clouds.
2.These "sun dogs" on either side of the real sun that occur 22 degrees on the left, right, or on both the left and right of the sun, depending on where ice crystals are present.
3.These mammatus clouds, which typically form when there's turbulence in cumulonimbus clouds.
4.This lenticular cloud that looks photoshopped. Lenticular clouds form when the air is still and wind blows constantly from the same direction.
5.The belt of Venus, a pink band over the darkened horizon at a specific time during twilight that's reminiscent of the belt the roman goddess Venus wore.
6.This fire rainbow here that's caused by, you guessed it, ice particles. The particles in the sky paired with the sun at a certain angle. The light refracts and creates a rainbow effect on the cloud.
7.This red sprite, which I mention every chance I get because HOW WEIRD, RIGHT?! Red lightning occurs high in the atmosphere. Even though it can be as much as 30 miles across, it only lasts a fraction of a second, making it difficult to observe.
8.This double rainbow is caused by light reflecting twice through a water droplet. It's pretty impressive, but...
9....I would say this supernumerary rainbow is more impressive. Yeah, that's right, it's a rainbow with extra colors. These rainbows occur when all of the falling water droplets are roughly the same size.
10.These "undulated asperitas" clouds that I had to make sure were real because they look like they came straight out of a Dr. Seuss book. They're apparently so rare, they escaped classification until 2015.
11.This "incredibly rare" upward lightning strike that's making me wonder why Thor has it out for us.
12.This sun pillar that occurs when the light from the sun reflects off ice crystals falling through the air.
13.When sunlight diffracts from the ice crystals inside a cloud, they create "mother of pearl" clouds or nacreous clouds.
14.This is not an island in the distance. It's a fata morgana, a type of atmospheric mirage created by refraction.
15.These weird webby noctilucent clouds that are a pretty rare formation that can only be seen in the clear summer months.
16.This Brocken spectre, which is actually just your shadow cast on mist and amplified below you. Sometimes, a rainbow halo can form around it. WILD.
17.Finally, my new favorite weather phenomenon, a STEVE. STEVE stands for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement, and is essentially a light ribbon in the sky caused by hot plasma. STEVEs take place in the same area that auroras do.
In summary, the Earth is amazing, and I need to do more googling.
