• Frost covers sand dunes of Ain Sefra for the fifth winter in a row, Algeria

    Sand dunes around the Algerian town of Ain Sefra — a region known as The Gateway to the Sahara — were seen covered with frost on January 17, 2022, as overnight temperatures dipped to -2 °C (28 °F) You can hardly call this rare anymore, as this is the fifth…

  • Very rare Polar Stratospheric Clouds Type II appear over Scandinavia

    Northern regions of Scandinavia were treated to a very rare high-altitude spectacle on January 17, 2022, photographer Adrien Mauduit reports. For about 2 hours, rare polar stratospheric clouds (PSC) type II appeared out of nowhere, displaying a staggering…

  • China stockpiling food at historically high levels

    China is stockpiling food at historically high levels and now has more than half of the world's maize and other grains. By mid-2022, the country is estimated to hold 69% of the world’s corn reserves, 60% of rice, and 51% of wheat. At the end of 2021,…