APOD: Mt. Rainier

Lenticular Clouds Above Washington

Lenticular Clouds Above Washington


APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day) features our very own Mt. Rainier in today’s post. From the website:

Explanation: Are those UFOs near that mountain? No — they are multilayered lenticular clouds. Moist air forced to flow upward around mountain tops can create lenticular clouds. Water droplets condense from moist air cooled below the dew point, and clouds are opaque groups of water droplets. Waves in the air that would normally be seen horizontally can then be seen vertically, by the different levels where clouds form. On some days the city of Seattle, Washington, USA, is treated to an unusual sky show when lenticular clouds form near Mt. Rainier, a large mountain that looms just under 100 kilometers southeast of the city. This image of a spectacular cluster of lenticular clouds was taken last December.

If you didn’t notice, the mountain is out this morning, and I am cursing myself for leaving the camera at home.

1 Comment so far

  1. josh on February 4th, 2009 @ 11:59 am

    wow. those clouds are CRAZY. thanks for sharing.



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