There is a common expression in the English language. referring to a blue moon.

When people
say that something happens “only once in a blue moon: they mean that it happens only very rarely,
once in a great while. This expression has been around for at least a century and a half; there are
references to this expression that date from the second half of the nineteenth century.

(5) The expression “a blue moon” has come to refer to the second full moon occurring in any given
calendar month. A second full moon is not called a blue moon because it is particularly blue or is any
different in hue from the first full moon of the month. Instead, it is called a blue moon because it is so
rare. The moon needs a little more than 29 days to complete the cycle from full moon to full moon.
Because every month except February has more than 29 days, every month will have at least one full
(10) moon (except February, which will have a full moon unless there is a full moon at the very end of
January and another full moon at the very beginning of March). It is on the occasion when a given
calendar month has a second full moon that a blue moon occurs. This does not happen very often,
only three or four times in a decade.

The blue moons of today are called blue moons because of their rarity and not because of their
(15) color; however. the expression “blue moon” may have come into existence in reference to unusual
circumstances in which the moon actually appeared blue. Certain natural phenomena of gigantic
proportions can actually change the appearance of the moon from Earth. The eruption of the
Krakatao volcano in 1883 left dust particles in the atmosphere, which clouded the sun and gave the
moon a bluish tint. This particular occurrence of the blue moon may have given rise to the expression
(20) that we use today. Another example occurred more than a century later. When Mount Pinatubo
erupted in the Philippines in 1991, the moon again took on a blue tint.
The organization that today is known as the Bank of America did start out in America, but
under quite a different name. Italian American A.P. Giannini established this bank on October 17,
1904, in a renovated saloon in San Francisco’s Italian community of North Beach under the name
Bank of Italy, with immigrants and first-time bank customers comprising the majority of his first
(5) customers. During its development, Giannini’s bank survived major crises in the form of a natural
disaster and a major economic upheaval that not all other banks were able to overcome.

One major test for Giannini’s bank occurred on April. 18, 1906, when a massive earthquake
struck San Francisco, followed by a raging fire that destroyed much of the city. Giannini obtained two
wagons and teams of horses, filled the wagons with the bank’s reserves, mostly in the form of gold,
(10) covered the reserves with crates of oranges, and escaped from the chaos of the city with his clients’
funds protected. In the aftermath of the disaster, Giannini’s bank was the first to resume operations.
Unable to install the bank in a proper office setting, Giannini opened up shop on the Washington
Street Wharf on a makeshift desk created from boards and barrels.

In the period following the 1906 fire, the Bank of Italy continued to prosper and expand. By
(15) 1918 there were twenty-four branches of the Bank of Italy, and by 1928 Giannini had acquired
numerous other banks, including a Bank of America located in New York City. In 1930 he
consolidated all the branches of the Bank of Italy, the Bank of America in New York City, and another
Bank of America that he had formed in California into the Bank of America National Trust and
Savings Association.

(20) A second major crisis for the bank occurred during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Although
Giannini had already retired prior to the darkest days of the Depression, he became incensed when
his successor began selling off banks during the bad economic times. Giannini resumed leadership of
the bank at the age of sixty-two. Under Giannini’s leadership, the bank weathered the storm of the
Depression and subsequently moved into a phase of overseas development.
Thunderstorms, with their jagged bursts of lightning and roaring thunder, are actually one of
nature’s primary mechanisms for transferring heat from the surface of the earth into the atmosphere.
A thunderstorm starts when low-lying pockets of warm air from the surface of the earth begin to rise.
The pockets of warm air float upward through the air above that is both cooler and heavier. The rising
(5) pockets cool as their pressure decreases, and their latent heat is released above the condensation line
through the formation of cumulus clouds.

What will happen with these clouds depends on the temperature of the atmosphere. In winter,
the air temperature differential between higher and lower altitudes is not extremely great, and the
temperature of the rising air mass drops more slowly. During these colder months, the atmosphere,
(10) therefore, tends to remain rather stable. In summer, however, when there is a high accumulation of
heat near the earth’s surface, in direct contrast to the considerably colder air higher up, the
temperature differential between higher and lower altitudes is much more pronounced. As warm air
rises in this type of environment, the temperature drops much more rapidly than it does in winter;
when the temperature drops more than four degrees Fahrenheit per thousand feet of altitude,
(15) cumulus clouds aggregate into a single massive cumulonimbus cloud. or thunderhead.

In isolation, a single thunderstorm is an impressive but fairly benign way for Mother Earth to
defuse trapped heat from her surface; thunderstorms, however, can appear in concert, and the
resulting show, while extremely impressive, can also prove extraordinarily destructive. When there is
a large-scale collision between cold air and warm air masses during the summer months, a squall
(20) line, or series of thunderheads, may develop. It is common for a squall line to begin when an
advancing cold front meets up with and forces itself under a layer of warm and moist air, creating a
line of thunderstorms that races forward at speeds of approximately forty miles per hour. A squall
line. which can be hundreds of miles long and can contain fifty distinct thunderheads, is a
magnificent force of nature with incredible potential for destruction. Within the squall line, often
(25) near its southern end, can be found supercells, long-lived rotating storms of exceptional strength that
serve as the source of tornadoes

‫ هي في الواقع إحدى‬،‫ مع نبضاتها المتعرجة من البرق والرعد الهادر‬،‫إن العواصف الرعدية‬

.‫اآلليات الطبيعية األساسية لنقل الحرارة من سطح األرض إلى الغالف الجوي‬
.‫تبدأ العاصفة الرعدية عندما تبدأ جيوب منخفضة من الهواء الدافئ في االرتفاع من سطح األرض‬
‫ ارتفاع‬.‫ وهو الهواء األثقل واألبرد‬،‫تطفو جيوب الهواء الدافئ إلى أعلى عبر الهواء الموجود فوقه‬
‫ وتنطلق حرارتها الكامنة فوق خط التكثيف من خالل‬،‫) تبرد الجيوب مع انخفاض ضغطها‬5(
.‫تكوين السحب الركامية‬
‫ ال يكون‬،‫ في فصل الشتاء‬.‫ما سيحدث مع هذه السحب يعتمد على درجة حرارة الغالف الجوي‬
‫ وتنخفض درجة‬،‫الفرق في درجة حرارة الهواء بين االرتفاعات األعلى والمنخفضة كبيًرا للغاية‬
،‫ يكون الجو‬،‫ خالل هذه األشهر الباردة‬.‫حرارة الكتلة الهوائية الصاعدة بشكل أبطأ‬
‫ عندما يكون هناك تراكم عاٍل للحرارة بالقرب‬،‫ في الصيف‬،‫ ومع ذلك‬.‫) أي يميل إلى الثبات‬١٠(
‫ يكون الفرق في درجات‬،‫ في تناقض مباشر مع الهواء األكثر برودة في األعلى‬،‫من سطح األرض‬
‫الحرارة بين االرتفاعات األعلى والمنخفضة أكثر وضوًحا‪ .‬ومع ارتفاع الهواء الدافئ في هذا النوع‬
‫من البيئة‪ ،‬تنخفض درجة الحرارة بسرعة أكبر بكثير مما تنخفض في الشتاء؛ عندما تنخفض درجة‬
‫الحرارة أكثر من أربع درجات فهرنهايت لكل ألف قدم من االرتفاع‪،‬‬
‫(‪ )15‬سحب ركامية تتجمع في سحابة ركامية واحدة ضخمة‪ .‬أو الرعد‪ .‬في عزلة‪ ،‬تعتبر عاصفة‬
‫رعدية واحدة وسيلة مثيرة لإلعجاب ولكنها حميدة إلى حد ما ألمنا األرض لنزع فتيل الحرارة‬
‫المحبوسة من سطحها؛ ومع ذلك‪ ،‬يمكن أن تظهر العواصف الرعدية في حفل موسيقي‪ ،‬ويمكن أن‬
‫يكون العرض الناتج‪ ،‬على الرغم من أنه مثير لإلعجاب للغاية‪ ،‬مدمًرا بشكل غير عادي‪ .‬عندما‬
‫يكون هناك تصادم واسع النطاق بين الهواء البارد والكتل الهوائية الدافئة خالل أشهر الصيف‪،‬‬
‫تحدث عاصفة‬
‫(‪ )20‬قد يتطور خط أو سلسلة من الرعد‪ .‬من الشائع أن يبدأ خط العاصفة عندما تلتقي جبهة باردة‬
‫متقدمة وتجبر نفسها تحت طبقة من الهواء الدافئ والرطب‪ ،‬مما يخلق خًطا من العواصف الرعدية‬
‫التي تتسارع لألمام بسرعة حوالي أربعين ميًال في الساعة‪ .‬خط العاصفة‪ .‬والتي يمكن أن يصل‬
‫طولها إلى مئات األميال ويمكن أن تحتوي على خمسين رأًسا رعدًيا متميًز ا‪ ،‬هي قوة طبيعية رائعة‬
‫ذات قدرة مذهلة على التدمير‪ .‬داخل خط العاصفة‪ ،‬غالًبا (‪ )25‬بالقرب من نهايته الجنوبية‪ ،‬يمكن‬
‫العثور على خاليا خارقة‪ ،‬وهي عواصف دوارة طويلة العمر ذات قوة استثنائية تعمل كمصدر‬
‫لألعاصير القمعية‬