Can anyone explain/name this phenomena?

[Malcolm McKessar]

[George Preoteasa]

Looks like lenticularis, a pile d’assiettes where the stack is dramatically shifting off center. Lenticularis clouds are common in mountainous or hilly areas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenticular_cloud

Do you have more details about the circumstances? Where or how log did you observe it?

[Howard Brown]

George, that’s a champion suggestion; and congratulations to Simona Halep from Constanza, Romania’s first Wimbledon champion.

You ask the right questions, Based on my guru (Clouds and Weather, R.K. Pilsbury) wave clouds occur when 1) There was an inversion of temperature with height 2) Wind direction was fairly constant with height 3) Wind speed increased with height 4) Wind speed at 2.000 feet was at least 20 knots.

There can be a train of waves (not here). The stack is stationary; it can be set up by (even a low) ridge of hills (but not an isolated hill), and some way away (15 miles in one example).

One questions whether there might be a ridge of hills to the right causing the stack, with wind blowing right to left. There can be a roll cloud below the lowest lenticular (turbulence), possible here perhaps.

 

[Howard Brown]

The UK Guardian Journal has a centre page spread picture today 19AUG2019 –

Sunset and storm ‘An early evening at Eilean Donan Castle, near Dornie in the west coast Highlands of Scotland. Taken in 2016’ by Dave Harnetty/Guardian Community

However I can not link to the picture because The Guardian uses Press Reader to protect it unless you sign up. (Google will give you pictures of the castle, seemingly a hotel now).

My point is that the water and landscape to the left of their picture is not dissimilar to McKessar’s third picture above. And there is a (sunlit) pile d’assiette in roughly the same position. It’s a great monochrome picture.

[Author]

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