what's the coolest natural event you've witnessed in person?

[7empest]

other than childbirth or anything human related

[FarmersSon]

A total eclipse is up there. I'll think on this and come back later.

[jtaylor2010]

I’d say total eclipse.




Meteor showers are also up there just because of how cool it looks and how it puts things in perspective. We are moving at speeds that allow a tiny speck of space dust slightly smaller than a grain of sand to leave trail of light across half the sky.

Sun showers also hit me in the feels and resonate on a very deep level with me. Still though, nothing topped totality of a solar eclipse.

[7empest]

really, two answers for total eclipse? maybe it's because I've never witnessed it, but if I witnessed it, I think a volcano would be pretty high up there

[7empest]

Bison in the snow pretty cool too

[NitrogenWidget]

total eclipse.

[Bodhy]

I saw a water buffalo have an epic brawl with a saltwater crocodile.

At first I thought, when I saw it attack, that the buffalo would be effortlessly ripped to pieces by the crocodile. But no, it put up a good fight and managed to gore the crocodile through the bottom of its mouth with its horn which looked like it really fcked the crocodile up.

The buffalo managed to get away but I'm not sure if it survived, ultimately. It suffered massive gashes on its legs and torsos. Shame, because to go toe to toe with a saltwater crocodile and survive is absolutely badass. Usually, if a salt crocodile attacks you, if you're not an elephant or a hippo, you're dead.

[dontstopbelief]

Squirting

[OutdoorBrah]

Watched a leopard hunt and kill a baby boar in Yala National Park. It must've heard the family of boar and hopped down from a tree branch and crossed about 300m of open grassland before disappearing into a thick jungle. Then a family of boar came running out of the jungle across the road we were on and into the jungle on the other side, and shortly after the leopard came out in pursuit but didn't follow their path directly, it went in further left to cut them off, and disappeared. Only 30 seconds later we heard a baby boar screaming frantically and then its cries grew fainter and more guttural before is stopped altogether.

[CellyTech]

I watched a cat give birth once

[N0rds]

Seeing a high production shooting star evening in a beautiful location is really cool.




Seeing the auroras hitting HARD directly overhead (and not this years ones), they make a faint static sound, and they way they move and "COME AT YOU BRO" is extremely freaky, and awe inspiring, makes you yell out loud "WOW" and "HOLY ****" even though nobody is around you. I highly recommend everyone see the auroras at least once in your life (and not a faint one way over the horizon, I mean dir3ectly overhead, OVERPOWERING YOU)






This video halfway shows looking up, BUT it is choppy since I assume this is long exposure. But in real life, its a constant movement, constant DANCE, it doesn't jump around like a stop-action-film, it MOVES like a ghost would

[DavinasDildo]

a near magnitude 8 quake

peak of the geminids

the milky way with the naked eye

a random autumn storm that materialized out of nowhere on a clear afternoon when i was chilling with my dad, bro and a friend on our roof

that low rumble you feel in your chest when a lion roars

[jtaylor2010]

really, two answers for total eclipse? maybe it's because I've never witnessed it, but if I witnessed it, I think a volcano would be pretty high up there

It’s pretty much impossible to explain because it’s such a unique experience and because individual reactions can be so varied. Some people are overcome with joy to the point of tears and some are so uncomfortable that they can’t even look at it….and everything in between. For me personally it wasn’t necessarily a pleasant feeling(actually a pretty uneasy feeling), but it was uneasy in a way that was due to experiencing the magnitude of our universe and the scale of things which make you feel small, which I actually like because it checks your ego. It also had a weird effect on how I experienced time. During totality it was almost like a portal where there was an aspect of timelessness which made you feel connected to humans and others across all the millenia who have experienced the same event. But again…its basically impossible to explain.

[THE-BEEF]

Seeing the Milky Way while out camping in the middle of nowhere with zero artificial light anywhere near during a warm summer night.

[crupiea]

Volcano erupting in the middle of the ocean, making a new island.

[jmal2000]

I've lived through several Hurricanes. In Florida and North Carolina.

[Cleveland33]

Leaving Cedar Point about 10 at night cause they closed early for a storm, well everyone leaving at once from the earlier than planned closing time means we were all stuck on the causeway when the storm rolled in. Lake Erie thunderstorms are an awesome sight on their own merit but I happened to be looking to my left when lightning struck the lake within 100 yards of us - just a fukkin cool thing to see

[ExistentialBrah]

Hurricane Ida was up there.

The only hurricane that made me legitimately scared

[stevebec]

Seen a few tornadoes, although not really up close.

[BigNik78]

Been in a tornado and an earthquake.

[brahnotah]

Grandad woke me up one night and took me and my nan in the garden, was a perfectly clear night and there was a meteor shower. Was quite large and cool as fuk.

[monster0ultra]

[SuperHercules]

I went inside a tornado to see if it would spin me around but it was underwhelming, I just got pelted with debris and dirt. Absolutely no spinning

[MyGhettoFantasy]

The birth of my children. Seeing your wife go from without child, to pregnant, to holding a human being in your arms that the two of you created is awesome.

Second would be wildfires in California. I know some are started by man but the state has a natural fire cycle so it would happen at some point regardless of the ignition factor.

The sky disappears behind a wall of smoke and turns red-orange. The air acrid. Watching ash rain down knowing it was pieces of the city of Paradise burning down in the mountains was really eerie.

[paulpfiction]

was in Hurricane Katrina.

that was ..... neat.

[gmenfan40]

Experiencing the total eclipse was way cooler in person than I expected.

[SuperHercules]

was in Hurricane Katrina.

that was ..... neat.

I went to the beach during a hurricane but it was only a category 1 by the time it made landfall. The most amusing part was all the seagulls flying against the wind and making zero progress, some even going backwards. The black sky was cool too

[yieldtonothing]

i saw tim duncan win his first chip in person srs

[paulpfiction]

I went to the beach during a hurricane but it was only a category 1 by the time it made landfall. The most amusing part was all the seagulls flying against the wind and making zero progress, some even going backwards. The black sky was cool too

yeah, being from Wisconsin I had never been in a hurricane. Was in Mississippi for the Army training to go to Iraq then boom...giant hurricane a week later