The Middle East is better known for dust storms than hail storms, but the area has experienced some bizarre weather patterns this year.
In just the past month, heavy rain storms raged for multiple days, while some Iraqis saw hailstones the size of golf balls.
And in a video that’s now gone viral, a “sand river” of ice water and hail stones was captured in the Arabian Desert.
People took to Reddit to wonder what exactly is happening in the video, and an expert delivered.
“If the hail has a high degree of roundness and a uniform size, then it’s particles can behave like a fluid. You can see that yourself with a 5-gallon bucket full of glass marbles -- they will ’slosh‘ and ’flow‘ when agitated and can be ’poured,'” said user TectonicWafer.
“ This particular video probably has a small volume amount of water underneath that is helping to lubricate the bedflow, but it’s not evident since the icy hail floats on top of the water. I suspect that’s why it looks to be moving so quickly. There also appears to a fair amount of fine-sand-sized particles that are acting as a ’suspended load' getting carried along by the water and hail, that might just be the graininess of the video.
“Also, it isn’t nearly as hot there at this time of year as you might think. November in Israel and Jordan not uncommonly has a daytime high of around 70 F and plunges down into the 40s at night. Like Tuscon or Las Vegas.”
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