Even when the sky is mostly blue, there’s a lot going on at different altitudes. The winds do not move in a consistent direction or at the same speed, something which becomes apparent when watching clouds move relative to one another. When different layers of air move past one another, there is shear between them, not unlike the friction you feel when running your hand along a table. Under the right circumstances, this shear creates Kelvin-Helmholtz waves like the ones in this image over Helena Valley, Montana. Fast-moving winds (blowing right to left in the image) above a layer of clouds created these breaking wave-like curls.
Ya sure those cloud waves aren't the result of global warming?
ReplyDeleteback in the day before cell phone cameras, I had a cloud above me that looked like Gods drinking straw. a solid shaft of cloud descended at about 45 deg. from vertical from the front range of the rockies north of denver to about 1000" agl where it smooched out like a stream of water hitting a flat rock. very cold jet stream that dropped like a rock after streaming over the rockies. no one with a camera around regretfully.
ReplyDeleteWe see those type of clouds here in Colorado along the front range quite often, they are better when the sun is shining under them. Very pretty but not good for pilots.
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