Stripey clouds and the Brunt-Vaisala frequency

JesseCuster

Senior Member
Interesting video from the excellent Nottingham Science YouTube video channel explaining a particular cloud phenomenon, that of long stripes of clouds in the sky.

Some of the comments say that the animation included in the video is misleading and doesn't accurately explain the phenomenon, but here it is anyway.

It's less than 5 minutes long and worth the watch IMO.

 
What the video is explaining is basically correct, only when I was taught meteorology, they called them Lenticular Clouds as that is what their shape looks like. They usually form downwind from hills or mountains when the wind near the top of the mountain is moderate to strong. These clouds are also indicators of turbulence and are avoided by aircraft if at all possible. You can quite often see them on satelite pictures and sometimes they can extend for 10s to 100s of miles downwind from the mountain depending on the wind strength and the moisture content of the air.
Hope that helps.
 
What the video is explaining is basically correct, only when I was taught meteorology, they called them Lenticular Clouds as that is what their shape looks like. They usually form downwind from hills or mountains when the wind near the top of the mountain is moderate to strong. These clouds are also indicators of turbulence and are avoided by aircraft if at all possible. You can quite often see them on satelite pictures and sometimes they can extend for 10s to 100s of miles downwind from the mountain depending on the wind strength and the moisture content of the air.
Hope that helps.

Sounds more like these that I photographed yesterday than what would be called lenticular I think

WP_20160126_14_13_51_Pro.jpg
 
He's describing a gravity wave. Lenticularis usually occur over or just downwind of mountains or other terrain features (they are orographic) and usually are singular.

My understanding is many of the type of clouds described occur due to high wind shear, in the rising areas of the vortices that form there.
 
Back
Top