Lenticular clouds

Posted 17 November 2014 by Matt Young

Interesting cloud formation, Boulder, Colorado. The camera is facing south, and the wind is coming from the west, or right. One hour later, in Golden,

The camera is facing roughly southeast. The white building in the foreground is the Astor House Museum. If anyone can name these clouds, I will gladly change the headline.

11 Comments

reshen68 · 17 November 2014

Undulatus Asperatus? http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/10/11/undulatus_asperatus_a_new_category_of_cloud.html

TomS · 17 November 2014

reshen68 said: Undulatus Asperatus? http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/10/11/undulatus_asperatus_a_new_category_of_cloud.html

I'm no meteorologist, but my guess is what your picture is more like a variety of mammatus, while Matt Young's are lenticular formed on the downwind slope of the Rockies.

Just Bob · 17 November 2014

No, no! It's clearly the face of Satan, sent as a "wake-up call" because we don't stone gays or belong to FL's church.

Matt Young · 17 November 2014

I do not know from clouds, and I do not have a cloud fixation, but I posted a pic of some mammatus clouds here, and I do not think these look anything like those. I thought they were lenticular or pile-of-plates clouds, but they must be distorted by the strong winds. Is that right?

Henry J · 17 November 2014

How much CSI is in those clouds?

gdavidson418 · 17 November 2014

A Constable sky...

Glen Davidson

ksplawn · 18 November 2014

If anyone can name these clouds, I will gladly change the headline.

Steve, Stephen, Stephanie, Estefania...

Carl Drews · 18 November 2014

I agree with TomS' identification of Matt Young's clouds as lenticular clouds. They are formed by a mountain wave on the downslope of the Rockies. Classic lenticular clouds are isolated lenses above a mountain range, and these clouds are the ones that sort of look like flying saucers. Matt has taken a picture here of the same basic setup, but the standing wave occurs within a heavy cloud deck. Probably that stack of layers includes sharp demarcations of moisture and temperature. "Stack-of-plates" clouds were discussed on Panda's Thumb last year: http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2013/03/pile-of-plates.html Lenticular clouds of all varieties are a standing wave within rapid horizontal airflow. Mammatus clouds are formed when pockets of cooling air drop out of the cloud deck and form elongated lobes below the main cloud. Mammatus clouds do not involve rapid horizontal airflow. The Cloud Appreciation Society has a more extensive article. Here are some more photos at Google. Undulatus Asperatus If you haven't looked at Phil Plait's blog yet, you really should, in full-screen like he recommends. There is a time-lapse video link at the bottom. At about time 0:12 a fascinating wave sequence begins. I have seen similar wave action in two places:

While snorkeling, watching an ocean wave pass over me from underwater.
In a trailer for the new movie Exodus: Gods and Kings, the yam suf (Red Sea) surges back while the Israelites scramble to get out of the way.

I studied all those differential equations, but there is nothing like seeing the motion directly.

Mike Elzinga · 18 November 2014

Matt Young said: I do not know from clouds, and I do not have a cloud fixation, but I posted a pic of some mammatus clouds here, and I do not think these look anything like those. I thought they were lenticular or pile-of-plates clouds, but they must be distorted by the strong winds. Is that right?

My meteorologist son says they are lenticular. He used to be stationed in Limon, CO and has seen them fairly often.

Marilyn · 18 November 2014

Carl Drews said: Undulatus Asperatus If you haven't looked at Phil Plait's blog yet, you really should, in full-screen like he recommends. There is a time-lapse video link at the bottom. At about time 0:12 a fascinating wave sequence begins. I have seen similar wave action in two places:

While snorkeling, watching an ocean wave pass over me from underwater.

In a trailer for the new movie Exodus: Gods and Kings, the yam suf (Red Sea) surges back while the Israelites scramble to get out of the way.

I studied all those differential equations, but there is nothing like seeing the motion directly.

These look very Jovian to me, I wonder what they look like from above looking down on them, possibly make the Earth look very forbidding if they were there active all the time.

Matt Young · 18 November 2014

My meteorologist son says they are lenticular. He used to be stationed in Limon, CO and has seen them fairly often.

OK, I changed the head to "Lenticular clouds," thanks! I see them all the time too, but usually they are truly lenticular -- lens shaped (or maybe lentil shaped) -- and I wondered whether these formed as I see them or are severely distorted from their original lenticular shape. The shapes changed very fast, and the displays were very unusual.