Lenticular Clouds Above Washington
Credit &
Copyright:
Tim Thompson
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.