Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
Michael LerchParticipantBreaker

Michael LerchParticipantHans, Thanks for the Sign In Tip…Refresh took me immediately to the red button of Login. Much Better.
Fascinating high clouds there !..Winds creating interesting troughs and eddies with what looks like lacunosus! Quite a cast of characters!Below is a Free For All of Undulatus with several layers of cloud.

Michael LerchParticipantEasy Hans…Sure! I’ve seen such phenomena. I suspect rising columns of heat make the holes. Something always starts degrading clouds once they reach their peak appearance. Can’t say I have pics tho,,or at least I have no idea where to look for them if I do.
Anyway, we’ve reached just over 100 posts on this thread. Hygge was hinting at 75 or so, that maybe its time for a new thread. Im thinking Vol II . 100 posts is fair especially if you believe ” A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words”..So, this one is my last for this thread, Vol I. Its strange enough to be a memorable one to go out on..another Overhead shot taken from my backyard…with a little contrast and ” clarity” added..;)

Michael LerchParticipantGeorge makes a valid point, it depends where you are located. But..I have a slitely different perspective. For me..the rarest cloud I can think of..is the One I don’t Want To See. Cirrus lenticulars are very rare. I think I’ve only seen a couple and have only one picture of one. I use to think Horseshoe vortex was rare but I’m into double digit sightings of those now. The most recent outburst of the Polar Strat Clouds have been seen by perhaps millions so rarity gets another flavor there. But there is one,,rare in occurrences when compared to normal clouds and I suspect, most who have seen one , hope its their last; the tuba that touches ground, the tornado! Imho..the rarer, the better.
Michael LerchParticipantHaving a devil of a time signing in here. As I come in I am taken to automatically being sign in. Problem is..as soon as I go to anywhere else ( forum, home page ), I’m not signed in there. So I have to keep signing out then back in until I am given the manual sign in red button, which works at keeping me signed in everywhere. .anyway..
hygge, Ive seen these weirdos come apart and there is some kind of force involved. They come apart like a spinning top losing its energy, its balance. There is wooble, a shuddering, shape becomes chaotic, filaments go off in various directions and dissipation takes it toll until all gone. So I thought the energy was in the spin of the vortex. If its in ,,invisible air..oh well. I’ve never seen it then. I’ve only seen its effect on the horseshoe.
Michael LerchParticipantA Bouquet of Cumulus

Michael LerchParticipantFascinating Crows Work Hans! Perhaps Boeing or Airbus Will design a wing tip that always gives a show like you and Davies captured! If They are going to put stuff across my sky, how nice it would be if it was at least interesting.
Heres a pic that can be rotated and flipped. I break some rules but adhere to just enough to keep it interesting.

Michael LerchParticipantLG…Hold on a sec…those clouds have the consistency of Jello at best,,maybe more like ice slush. Our weather would be ..crushed to death. I can imagine micro creatures living amongst the molecules but temperature and light are very thin. Now take the Jovian moon Encelidus(spl?) It just may be all water..ice crust with liquid underneath maybe there we could survive for a while. Maybe some great ice fishing there.
But yea, Juno earned every cent poured into the program with just that shot.
Michael LerchParticipantHans,, I’d say it is Holmboe Instability. The fascinating thing is the other waves and surges besides a main prominence. According to computer simulations the jostling of the whole area ( layer) should be evident,again the physics of finding equilibrium. Below is another Jan 13 2017 pic. This time some lenticular get the Holmboe treatment.

Michael LerchParticipantCloud Busy

Michael LerchParticipantThe Holmboe..is just another instability, somewhat related to K-H in the physics of it all. The pic below was taken Jan13 2017 as a unstable system flowed in and out of the valley. Asperitas was happening nearby at the same time.Two layers of differing temp and thus amount of moisture rub into each other and a equilibrium is sought. The pic shows a simplified version of the stages in seeking equilibrium. On the left is the initial wave creating between differences. In the center is the classic ,,what I call ” beauty point” of the phenomena. and on the right is the ” explosive” radical destabilization,,dispersing differences until all is equal.
Again, I think due to the speed systems whip thru the Upper Sonoran Desert here, a careful eye will catch the phenomena related to sheer, instability and the speed itself. Its difficult for me to remember a system coming thru that did Not have undulatus of some sort. Undulatus is brought to us by wind sheer. It seems to me ,so is Asperitas. K-H seems more organized and sedate compared to Holmboe but both are manifestation of differences between layers as is sheer. Even the weird and wonderful Horseshoe Vortex..as hygge put it..more than my fair share. The down side is..These fantastics happen fast and are gone quickly. Most of the time, If I don’t have a camera in my hand, I won’t bother trying to get a pic of a special event. As with Asperitas, I’ve noticed an increase in sightings of Holmboe. Its hard to say theres also been an increase in K-H since like Undulatus, just about every system racing thru, a careful eye will observe K-H.
The price for this? Chunks of time with no clouds at all. Some years ago we broke a record ,,108 (?) days with no rain. Not necessarily without out clouds but you get the idea. On average, between March and July’s Monsoon, we go around 2 weeks with blue sky, maybe a little less., before clouds find their way into the valley. I’ve been in the Valley since 1979. I’ve only seen Fog here twice. I’ve seen Holmboe a lot more than fog.

Michael LerchParticipantFog on the Pond

Michael LerchParticipantKeelin below is a shot I took on Jan 19 2017 across the street from work ( East Valley). I saw all the signs of an event then looked almost straight up and there were the Waves. Wonderment!
Some times I think I hear Asperitas, a faint woosh. Maybe its just excitement of witnessing such a cool natural phenomena.

Michael LerchParticipantThink of Infrared as..photography with heat.. or of heat..
Michael LerchParticipantThank You All For Your Kind Words! Hygge , you have picked out the one thing that ..well..im not bragging here..I am saying what follows in the vein of ..theres a change going on. Its more than fair share Hygge..I’ve noted over the last few years that the Phoenix skies are visited by Asperitas perhaps once a quarter up to once every 6 weeks. During Monsoon season I actually see few, very few Asperitas. Here is the change..The photo I sent in and Ian posted in the gallery a day or two ago,,was photographed Jan 23,2017. Looking at my Photographic Records…I shot Asperitas Jan 19,,Jan 20,,Jan 22 as well as Jan23.. The shot below was taken in the afternoon on Jan 22..I also have Asperitas ( mixed with Holmboe Phenomena)shots dated Jan 13 2017 and Dec 30 2016 ! Just about when I get to processing the shots of a event an even better one comes along. So,,the idea of fair share,,needs to be re-thought. I’ve got a lot of Asperitas pics no one has seen.
Maybe..its like Andy K and his Owens Valley Lenticulars. The flat desert at the bottom of the pacific trough sweeping in and across ,creates conditions where alls it takes are the low hills east and north to trigger Asperitas. The East Valley with the McDowell and Usury mtns ( Hills) seem to be good spawning grounds for Asperitas.. A majority of my photo sessions with Asperitas have been in the East Valley. With a little El Nino effect Asperitas flourishes…??..We’ll see. Weather predictions are calling for good chances of rain Saturday and Sunday.

-
AuthorPosts










