Unique Sierra Wave cloud sighted over Reno, NV
From my friend Mike Alger at KTVN-TV Reno, who writes:
I’ve been on the air doing weather for KTVN-TV for over a quarter of a century, as you might expect (and to channel Anthony), people send me things. Especially pictures of the clouds. And some of them are quite good. But the one Jeff Houk sent me Sunday morning might be the coolest ever. I’ve seen some very nice Standing Lenticular clouds (we call them Sierra Wave clouds locally) before, and the colors make this one pretty spectacular in its own right. But that perfectly carved out hole in its middle was something that I’ve never seen before.
Full sized: https://wxmanreno.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/spaceship-lenticular.jpg
I thought it might be fun for WUWT readers to give their own theories on what is causing it. I have a pretty good idea, and so as to not give it away, after you post you theory below, you can link to my explanation found on my weather blog at mikealger.net. Here’s a direct link to the relevant posting: (http://mikealger.net/2015/03/18/explaining-the-hole-in-the-cloud/)
Enjoy!
Mike Alger
Chief Meteorologist
KTVN-TV
Reno, NV
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“I thought it might be fun for WUWT readers to give their own theories on what is causing it.”
Easy. Like everything else CO2 caused it.
Duh, CO2! Yep, that was my answer too.
The less you know, the easier it seems…
Sooooooo….How do we get the same lenticular clouds in Edmonton,Alberta, 400 hundred miles east of the Rocky’s on flat land, at 3100 feet MSL? Just asking.
Satellite pics quite often show regular mountain lee wave systems extending a thousand or so kilometres down wind from their triggering mountain range when upper air winds and lapse rates and stability bands are set up just right for such systems
If the conditions are right, you can get a series of standing waves several hundred miles downwind of a major mountain range. We see it in Nevada all the time downwind of the Sierra. Glider pilots will often jump from wave peak to wave peak in an effort to set point-to-point distance records. A good friend of mine, Gordon Boettger, has piloted a glider from Western Nevada into Wyoming a couple of times.
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet! Look what CAGW/ Solar Flare/ Earthquake/ what have you has done to Anglesey……https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153248420764497&set=gm.657148607723593&type=1&theater
What TV channel did that to Anglesey?
Oh my Gaawd noooo…that’s where I’m from……….
It would make Menai-Bridge the longest in the world mind……
Hey, its not only Anglesey. Take a toot at the Isle of Wight and what’s that island near Felixstowe?
well that i turbulence, a stream of air have produced the two eddies, possibly an airplane have passed or topography of the ground lowered pressure and produce a narrow high speed wind.
I hope this was vague enough.
97% of Climate scientists think it is the plughole used to hide the missing heat. Bought and paid for by the Koch family and operated by deniers. They also think the oceans will boil
Lenticular clouds are formed when an air mass flows over mountains. When the air rises, it cools adiabatically. When a parcel of air cools below its dew point, water condenses and a cloud forms. After the air passes over the mountain and starts to drop again, the reverse happens: the air warms and the cloud fades. The air flow is laminar, so layers of air do not mix as this happens. When a layer of moist air overlies a layer of dryer air, the dry air will not form a part of the cloud. Several layers of alternating moister and dryer air leads to the ‘stack of plates’ appearance seen in the smaller lenticular clouds in the distance.
If the dryer air breaches the bottom of the cloud (which is set by the humidity of the moister air layer), it will leave a ‘dent’. Similar dents are visible in the two smaller adjoining clouds.
That’s pretty much what I thought. Although I would have added that the drier air below may have passed over something hot (an asphalted car park, for instance) to stimulate the rise.
Or maybe it’s the other way round. Perfectly normal lenticular cloud which as been punctured by a meteorite. 🙂
Must be global warming , has ‘everything’ is blamed on this included cooling!
@LewSkannen
…“I thought it might be fun for WUWT readers to give their own theories on what is causing it.”
Easy. Like everything else CO2 caused it….
Wrong Answer! You fail the Climate Science challenge!
The correct answer is:
” This appears to be a totally new and unforeseen ‘climate weirding’ phenomenon – distinctly separate from the CO2 issue, and thus requiring a completely new set of researchers. It could cause the extinction of life on Earth as we know it within 10 years. We must immediately set up an Inter Governmental Panel on Funny Cloud Shapes, funded by the UN, along similar lines to the IPCC (but with a larger budget) and a remit to study funny cloud shapes for at least 30 years…”
Mt. Fuji, Japan:
http://dailybuzzlive.com/wp-content/uploads/weird-beautiful-cloud-formations-3.jpg
Proof certain we live in a world still yet filled with possibilities we cannot imagine.
It’s just the foxes having a race.
“The mountains got his hat on”.
But has nowhere to go!
James Bull
Semi cloaked Goa’uld Mother Ship. Ha’tak Class.
Definitely an example of Gaia’s modern art.
They started up HAARP again. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Visible proof of the Electric Universe Theory.
I just watched War of the Worlds, with Tom Cruise. I’m scared. Um, was there any lightning?
Somebody actually watched that movie? Now I’m scared. 😉
UFOs. Obviously.
A climbing jet went through the center. Shock wave passed outward with nearly circular pattern on underside. The middle was disrupted, and left just under dew point. A bit like this?
Something on the wing…
Mother Gaia’s vagina…
For those that don’t know, Anthony has another (occasionally updated) site: Weather Picture of the Day.
Yeah, shouldn’t that be “Weather Picture of Some Days”?
/grin
Mike Alger…
Vortex shedding around a mountain?, ie Von Karman vortex street, on a massive scale?
Here is an example of Von Karman Vortex Street as seen by a satellite over the Island of Madeira.
Here is an example of Von Karman Vortex Street as seen by a satellite over the Island of Madeira.
That’s an intriguing idea, but I’m pretty sure it is not a Von Karman Vortex. For one, the lenticular and the “hole” was stationary in the sky. A Von Karman would continue to move downstream. Especially since the wind was blowing ~100 mph at the clouds altitude.
Here’s a series of three pictures… each taken a few minutes apart.
As you notice, there is no movement of the lenticular or the hole.
If you look carefuly at the leading fluffy cloud, the whole mass is rotating very slowly to the right, anti-clockwise.
Hey Mike, I see your point. So that provokes the obvious question: Did the hole, which shows a small amount of rotation, appear in the cloud or did the holed or rotating cloud move in? I know that this may be unknown to you. The vortex shedding concept demands a counter flow or an obstruction somewhere.
Paul… I’m, not convinced there was any rotation of the hole…It looks pretty static to me. The best explanation is a meso-high formed under descending air thanks to precipitation occurring at the apex of the lenticular. It’s easy to think that the hole is caused by dry air being pulled upwards into the cloud, but I think it is just the opposite. I think it is air moving downward from the top of the cloud, creating a “warm spot” in the middle, and raising the saturation elevation a couple of hundred feet there. To me, it’s the only explanation that makes any sense given the conditions present.
Atmospheric vortex draining CO2 to space and resulting in a pause for the global temperature.
Amazing!
The coolest cloud evah, appears during the hottest year evah!
Looks like the red eye storm on Jupiter but from the ground up.
I am sure it is a spaceship getting ready to “beam up” something just out of the picture – the photographer, perhaps? You can tell that is the open hatch in the bottom of the ship where the target will be drawn, and just beyond, in the picture, you can clearly see the hatch door. Must be Martian in origin, judging by the color.
I don’t know what it is but….
…it’s worse than we thought.
Aircraft is one possibility.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind – a movie from the 80’s I believe with Richard Dryfus – that is what it reminds me of.
Weaponized chemtrails…