This large and unusual cloud formation was captured one July morning over western Australia. Stretching over 1,000 kilometers, the clouds have interesting features at both the large and small scale. Keep reading
Tag: clouds
Jovian Swirls
Jupiter, our solar system’s stormiest planet, shares many similarities with Earth. But where Earth’s strongest storms are cyclones centered on low-pressure regions, Jupiter’s longest and strongest storms are anti-cyclones, driven Keep reading
“Níłtsą́”
Living in the central and western United States, it’s easy to dismiss summer weather as just another storm, but the truth is that this region sees some of the most Keep reading
Ominous Mammatus
Mammatus clouds are fairly unusual and often look quite dramatic. Most clouds have flat bottoms, caused by the specific height and temperature at which their droplets condense. But mammatus clouds Keep reading
Nacreous Clouds
Iridescent clouds shine bright over this Finnish sunset. These colorful clouds are nacreous clouds, also known as mother-of-pearl clouds. Formed from ice crystals during frigid conditions in the lower stratosphere, Keep reading
Cellular Clouds
Though tough to make out from the surface, our oceans are often covered by cell-shaped clouds stretching thousands of kilometers. This satellite image shows off two such types of marine Keep reading
Jupiter’s Frosted Clouds
New 3D renderings of Jovian clouds show textured swirls akin to a cupcake’s sculpted frosting. The images are based on flyby data from the JunoCam instrument. Because illumination of the Keep reading
Jupiter in Infrared
These recent composite images from the James Webb Space Telescope show Jupiter in stunning infrared detail. They’re the result of several images taken in different infrared bands, then combined and Keep reading
Actinoform Clouds
Flower-shaped actinoform clouds, like those seen on the left side of this satellite image, were only discovered in the 1960s once satellite imagery allowed meteorologists to identify cloud structures that Keep reading
Asperitas Formation
In 2017, the World Meteorological Organization named a new cloud type: the wave-like asperitas cloud. How these rare and distinctive clouds form is still a matter of debate, but this Keep reading