2025 is half over already, and we’ve seen plenty of weird weather, from snow to hurricanes, tornadoes and floods.
Some of these events were unusual for where or when they occurred. Others were just plain bizarre.
Here is our ranked list of the strangest things we’ve seen so far in 2025, ranked in terms of overall oddity.
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10. Ghostnado + Rainbow
Let’s start with what I think is the most photogenic tornado of the year.
On June 16, a ghostly white tornado was captured by several storm chasers in western Nebraska, southwest of North Platte.
It was white because it was lit by the sun behind the chasers. Apart from the tantalizing view, this sunshine also allowed a faint rainbow to add an exclamation point to this spectacular sight.
Perhaps the best part of this story was the tornado caused little damage, since it remained in open country.
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9. Canada’s Weird May
Canada’s vast reach as far east as the Atlantic Maritimes and north of the Arctic Circle lends itself to impressive weather extremes.
Two of the most bizarre happened in less three weeks this May.
On Mother’s Day, Goose Bay, Labrador, about 800 miles northeast of Montreal, was buried by 15.5 inches of snow, the town’s most of any May day since 1942. If that wasn’t enough, wind gusts from 60 to 80 mph whipped the snow into huge drifts and weird roof overhangs on homes.
On May 29, Hay River, about 500 miles north of Edmonton, soared to 93.7 degrees, shattering an all-time May record for Canada’s Northwest Territories. Unfortunately, that hot, dry weather since spring fueled numerous wildfires that charred over 10 million acres as of late June.
8. Buried, Literally
I may have overused the term “buried” in number nine on the list.
After an early March blizzard – named Winter Storm Lola by The Weather Channel – blasted the upper Midwest, crews were still plowing out some secondary roads from feet of snow days later.
In western Iowa, a snow plow driver found a pickup and another vehicle completely buried in a snowbank.
The blizzard stranded motorists from Kansas to Upper Michigan. Fortunately, nobody was found in either of the buried vehicles.
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7. Two Tornadoes In 41 Minutes
Less than a week after those snow buried Iowa vehicles were found, a part of southern Mississippi was hit by two separate tornadoes in less than an hour.
On March 15, an EF4 tornado was nearing the end of its path when it tracked over western Covington County, Mississippi, about 55 miles southeast of Jackson.
Forty-one minutes later, a second tornado crossed the path of the first tornado over this wooded area northeast of Bassfield, the National Weather Service determined after damage surveys.
Almost five years earlier, another EF4 tornado near Bassfield was the largest on record in Mississippi during an Easter Sunday outbreak.
6. Frozen In Place
Of all the times for a water main break, a cold outbreak may be the worst.
Early in the morning of February 17, a 100-year old steel pipe ruptured, sending water gushing into streets and some homes in the southwest side of Detroit. Over 250 homes either lost power or were flooded, requiring rescues by boat.
This all happened during one of the coldest outbreaks of the winter in the Great Lakes. Given the subfreezing temperatures, water in the streets froze for a time, locking numerous vehicles in a surreal icy grip, as aerial video that day showed.
5. Home Rebuilt Before Damage Survey
On the evening of April 2, an EF1 tornado tore through parts of southern Michigan. What was so unusual is what happened after the storm.
When a National Weather Service survey crew arrived less than 48 hours later, they found several damaged homes and buildings were already repaired, including a mobile home, a two-story home and a pole barn.
As senior meteorologist Chris Dolce explained, this added a layer of complexity not often seen in these post-storm damage surveys. NWS damage surveys are usually conducted as soon as possible after a storm, before cleanup operations kick into higher gear.
In this case, the repairs made it difficult for the survey team to estimate the tornado’s winds over parts of its path.
(MORE: How NWS Damage Surveys Estimate A Tornado’s Strength)
4. Two 2025 Hurricane Season Oddities
The Atlantic hurricane season was cruising toward a June shutout until tiny Tropical Storm Andrea formed on June 24. It not only fizzled just 12 hours later, but it was the farthest northeast June tropical storm to develop in 125 years.
Five days before that, Hurricane Erick became the only known Eastern Pacific hurricane to landfall as at least Category 3 intensity anytime between May through July when it roared ashore in southern Mexico’s Oaxaca state. It was also the third major hurricane to landfall along Mexico’s Pacific coast in less than two years, following 2023’s Otis and 2024’s John.
3. What’s That On An Atlanta Freeway?
We saw three weird wind events in the middle of June.
First, a giant inflatable giraffe blown by high winds ended up in front of an unsuspecting motorist pulling into a Chinese shopping mall’s underground parking ramp.
Then, a cruise ship broke from its moorings and drifted slowly away from its dock after a sudden storm in Juneau, Alaska.
Finally, several inflatable water slides were whipped by winds onto an exit ramp on one of Atlanta’s busiest freeways, the Downtown Connector.
2. Chicago Dust Storm During Midwest Tornado Outbreak
During a deadly siege of over 160 tornadoes from the South to the Midwest in mid-May, arguably the weirdest aspect wasn’t directly from severe thunderstorms.
A cloud of dirt and dust whipped up by outflow winds from thunderstorms over central Illinois swept into Chicagoland, northwest Indiana and even parts of Lower Michigan. This reduced visibility to zero in some outlying areas, forcing some roads to close.
According to the National Weather Service, it was believed to be the first dust storm to affect Chicago since May 31, 1985, which was also the day of a prolific tornado outbreak in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Ontario, Canada. The NWS also said it was the strongest Chicago dust storm since the Dust Bowl (May 10, 1934). You can see a high-resolution satellite loop of the dust storm from the University of Wisconsin, here.
1. Record Smashing Gulf Coast Snowstorm
January snowstorms in the Northeast, Midwest, West, even parts of the South are typical, not unusual.
But a late January snowstorm – named Winter Storm Enzo by The Weather Channel – rewrote the history books along the Gulf Coast.
Enzo dumped 6 to 12 inches of snow from southeast Texas to southern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle into southern Georgia, with additional accumulations into the coastal Carolinas.
People sledded in Houston. A blizzard warning was issued for southwest Louisiana and extreme southeast Texas, one of many locations where snow piled up on the beach.
New Orleans picked up 8 inches, its heaviest snowfall in modern day records (since 1948) and the city’s biggest total in over 100 years. Among the incredible sights were skiers on Bourbon Street and ice hockey on Canal Street.
The weight of the snow caused the Mobile, Alabama, Civic Center roof to collapse ahead of its scheduled demolition. Almost 10 inches of snow in Milton, Florida, appeared to have shattered a state snow record from 1954.
If that wasn’t enough, Enzo’s remnant energy later ended up instigating one of Ireland’s most destructive wind storms on record, Storm Éowyn.
(MORE: Full Winter Storm Enzo Recap)
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
