Circuhorizontal Arc In Scotland

 
I was browsing the news the other day and saw an article by the DailyMail, showing a beautiful Circuhorizontal arc or 'fire rainbow' in the sky. The photo was taken by Ali Bain and the article states that the phenomena lasted only 20 seconds, before it disappeared. Thank goodness Mr. Bain had his camera handy. Such wonderful creations surely should be captured on film. 

Despite it's name, the phenomena is not produced by fire but by the sun's position (higher than 58 degrees) and plate-like shaped ice crystals in cirrus clouds. This combination results in a very big halo which is parallel to the horizon. The cirrus cloud allows for parts of the arc to be visible to the eye. Another arc which is produced by high sun position is an Infralateral arc. These arcs tend to curve upward. A Circuhorizontal arc is also not rainbow but a halo.

For more information on Circuhorizontal arcs and Infralateral arcs, check out this link.

Cirrus Clouds

I saw some sweet cirrus clouds on my way back from visiting my some of my family members, in North Carolina recently.

Here's the picture: 

Love it!

Rare Kelvin-Helmholtz Clouds Over Alabama

Yesterday, Alabama Meteorologist James Spann (@spann) tweeted this beautiful picture of Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds at the Alabama Air National Guard facility at the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. The clouds also known as "wave clouds" are defined by the Cloud Appreciation Society as, "the result of shearing winds up at cloud level. A particular type of turbulence can develop in a layer of Cirrus cloud, which happens to form below an inversion* between air currents of differing speeds and/or directions. Sea waves break as their bases are slowed down upon reaching shallow water and their crests surge ahead. Cloud waves break in the same way: when their crests are pushed ahead of their troughs by the difference in air currents." The occurrence of this kind of cloud formation is rare.  They are more frequently seen in San Francisco.

Here is a link to more pictures of this rare occurrence.

Here's a link to his post on Twitter.

A Ripple In the Clouds

Just wanted to share a few pictures I took of the clouds yesterday from my work window. Please disregard the reflection of the lights on the window. These clouds were absolutely amazing!

The Eye

***Just some background information about the picture***

I wanted to share a picture that I captured a few days ago. It was taken in the parking lot of the Cherry Hill Mall in Cherry Hill, NJ. It caught my attention because the cloud formation was HUGE and as I was amazed by its towering size, I noticed that the center of the cloud was open. With the sunlight behind the formation and the open space in the center, it looked like an eye. To me at least. I also like how other cloud types are displayed in the picture as well as the orange glow of color towards the bottom. Enjoy!

New Cloud Type Debate and Cloud Formation

There may be a new cloud type in which Jane Wiggins, a woman from Iowa shot a picture of. Just take a look at the of the clouds here:


Personally, I believe this picture is amazing though the clouds do look quite frightening. This picture raises the question as to whether the phenomena in this shot is a legitimate new type of cloud and has been the fuel to a debate among meteorologists and cloud physicists, around the world. If this is named as a new cloud type, then we are looking at the first new cloud to be recognized by the WMO (World Meteorological Organization) since 1951. Though the photo is undated, the presumed time of capture is around 2006.

Clouds are formed when water vapor in the air, cools to its dew point or the temperature for which that parcel of air is cooled at a constant barometric pressure. This process results in the water vapor condensing into water droplets. The water droplets condense onto microscopic dust particles or condensation nuclei which is floating around in the atmosphere. Many atmospheric phenomena throughout the world is formed by this process or convection, which is when the air parcel cools by expansion as it moves upward in the atmosphere and as the water droplets condense latent heat is released into the atmosphere, which in return causes the formation to rise.

-->There are many different types of clouds, which can be classified into four simplified fields: cumulus, stratus, cirrus, and nimbus. Cumulus clouds are vertically developed clouds, also known as the fair weather clouds, stratus clouds are layered cloud that form at a low altitude, cirrus clouds are the high altitude clouds that are thin and wispy (my favorite clouds) and nimbus clouds are usually combined with other types of clouds and are known as the rain clouds. Of course there are MANY more clouds which form as a combination of these four basic types, such as stratocumulus clouds which are gray and appear just before a storm.

So what are the clouds in the picture? Unfortunately it may take years for the clouds in the above picture to be recognized as a new clouds as scientists debate if the clouds in this picture are in fact unique. Some articles featuring this picture, include some meteorologists quoting to have spotted a similar type of cloud formation and these clouds may not be uncommon at all. There may also be a name for this formation 'altocumulus undulatus asperatus' (see this link for the article). Nevertheless, the clouds in the picture are certainly memorizing and the mystery behind the photo is enough to incite the mind.