• A lightning strike in the Democratic Republic of Congo killed all 11 members of one soccer team while leaving the opposing team in the match untouched, leading to accusations of witchcraft by the survivors.

• The energy in an average one day hurricane could power the United States for three years.

• In the past 60 years, the groundhog has only predicted the weather correctly 28% of the time. The rushing back and forth from burrows is believed to indicate sexual activity, not shadow seeking.

• Butte Montana has more days each year where the temperature drops below freezing (223 days) than any other city in the lower 48 states in the USA.

• How cold is it in outer space? If you could measure the temperature in a deserted region of space, with nothing for light years around, it would be about 2.7 degrees Kelvin (-454 degrees Fahrenheit). Zero degrees Kelvin is 'absolute zero,' the point at which molecules have no kinetic energy and therefore stand dead still. The 2.7 degrees figure arises from the microwave background radiation - energy left over from the Big Bang that floods the universe in all directions.

• You can use pine cones to forecast the weather: The scales will close when rain is on the way.

• Weekends on the East Coast are wetter than weekdays, according to climatologists at Arizona State University, who analyzed weather data going back to 1946. They reported that Saturdays are 22% rainier than Mondays. The likely culprit is air pollution caused by factories and commuters' cars. The pollution builds toward the weekend, increasing the chances for rain, then clears after a two-day respite, signalling fairer weather.

• The fastest wind speed ever recorded is 318 mph in one of the May 3, 1999 tornadoes to hit Oklahoma.

• On average, the United States experiences 100,000 thunderstorms each year, causing about 1,000 tornadoes. The National Weather Service says an average of 42 people are killed by tornadoes annually.

• Eighty-five percent of the people killed by lightning are male.