Mammatus clouds are a relatively rare and dramatic variety. One advantage of living in Colorado is that I see them somewhat often, especially during our stormy springs and summers. This Keep reading
Tag: cloud formation
A Lenticular Cloud With a Curl
Lens-shaped lenticular clouds are not terribly rare in mountainous areas, but observers at Mount Washington caught a very unusual cloud near sunrise in late February. This lenticular cloud had an Keep reading
A Year From Geostationary Orbit
Our planet is a complex fluid dynamical system, and one of the best ways to watch nature at work is through timelapse. This short film takes us through an entire Keep reading
Growing Droplets
The moisture in clouds eventually condenses into droplets that grow into raindrops and fall. Some steps in this process are well understood, but others are not. In particular, scientists have Keep reading
“Monsoon IV”
It’s a cliché to claim that the sky is bigger in the American West, but the wide, open views in that region do offer a very different perspective on weather. Keep reading
Creating Clouds
Despite their ubiquity and importance, we know surprisingly little about how clouds form. The broad strokes of the process are known, but the details remain somewhat fuzzy. One challenge is Keep reading
“Pursuit”
Photographer Mike Olbinski has released yet another breathtaking timelapse film of weather over the Great Plains. This one has a little bit of everything: storms, tornadoes, incredible cloud formations, and Keep reading
“Fractal”
Timelapses are a wonderful way to capture the power and majesty of storms like the supercell thunderstorms featured in Chad Cowan’s “Fractal”. The video contains snapshots from six years’ worth Keep reading
Roll Cloud Over Chicago
A cold front passing through Chicago last week triggered a roll cloud, shown in the timelapse above. These clouds look like spinning horizontal tubes and form in areas where cool, Keep reading
Roll Clouds
The roll cloud, or Morning Glory cloud, is a rare phenomenon that looks rather like a horizontal tornado. In reality, it is part of a soliton wave traveling through the Keep reading