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The Cloud Appreciation Society: Rare & Unusual Formations

Bullseye said:
Trying to organise my photo's and I found these at last, they were in the sky all afternoon.
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"Ah!" When I first looked at your photo I thought it might be this that you meant as whatever this is seems to be above the horizon, but not sure what it/they might be?
sky image.jpg
 
Sid said:
"Ah!" When I first looked at your photo I thought it might be this that you meant as whatever this is seems to be above the horizon, but not sure what it/they might be?
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It look like a patch of cumulus. Maybe there's a small island or something there?
 
kesavaross said:
It look like a patch of cumulus. Maybe there's a small island or something there?
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I would agree. . . appears to be the Sun's late ray's reflecting of off a patch of in-line clumps of Sun~highlighted cumulus clouds far off on the horizon.
 
I have never seen what they call a “ hole punch “ in the clouds and I think they are a rare occurrence, but my wife told me she saw this formation as a storm was rolling in.

As I said, I think she was amazed to see this formation and was excited to tell me about it.

My wife also claimed that she thought that it was unusually bright in the center of the cloud hole almost on the boarder of being shinny ?
 
charliebrown said:
I have never seen what they call a “ hole punch “ in the clouds and I think they are a rare occurrence, but my wife told me she saw this formation as a storm was rolling in.

As I said, I think she was amazed to see this formation and was excited to tell me about it.

My wife also claimed that she thought that it was unusually bright in the center of the cloud hole almost on the boarder of being shinny ?
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I wonder if an ice cloud could form inside and above a punch hole cloud formation? If so, then that might account for it appearing brightly lit in the centre of the cloud hole - as do Sun-dogs (but with rainbow colourations), which I've seen in my area on many an occasion.
 
Sid said:
I wonder if an ice cloud could form inside and above a punch hole cloud formation? If so, then that might account for it appearing brightly lit in the centre of the cloud hole - as do Sun-dogs (but with rainbow colourations), which I've seen in my area on many an occasion.
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Sundogs are always at 180 degrees to the sun. i.e. horizontally to the left and right and in cirrus clouds.
 
eburacum said:
Hole punch clouds often have a stream of virga forming in the middle, falling down from the flat cloud like a streamer.
Here is a hole-punch cloud with a fallstreak which is displaying a sundog of some sort.

379507_kgo-rainbow-cloud-img.jpg
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That effect is probably iridescence rather than a sundog although it's hard to tell which.

https://atoptics.co.uk/droplets/irid1.htm
 
In some of the images I linked to in the next post, you can actually see the Sun and the 22 degree halo, so those ones are definitely sundogs.
 
eburacum said:
In some of the images I linked to in the next post, you can actually see the Sun and the 22 degree halo, so those ones are definitely sundogs.
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Those are definitely sundogs. Stunning pictures.

The image on posting 53 has the rainbow effect going horizontally which is why I questioned it being a sundog.
 
My wife from the above previous post who saw the “ hole punch “ in the clouds is not saying UFO, but she claimed the bright, shiny center had a strangeness about it.

I am sure ice crystals is a good explanation.
 
charliebrown said:
My wife from the above previous post who saw the “ hole punch “ in the clouds is not saying UFO, but she claimed the bright, shiny center had a strangeness about it.

I am sure ice crystals is a good explanation.
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Not ice as such but rather super cooled water.

Hole punch clouds (called Fallstreak holes or clouds) do often have an 'other worldly' look about them and have been associated by some Ufologists and others as places where UFO's disguise themselves. Personally I think using a natural phenomena that really stands out is hardly a good disguise. The UFO people may be right. They may be using a natural phenomena to hide behind. I don't know. Regardless of right or wrong, it's speculation.

The first mention of Fallstreak holes I have come across was in the diary of a head gardener for a stately home in around 1730. The first people in the west to really keep an accurate record of the weather and also start to 'forecast' the weather from experience and extensive note taking were head gardeners of large estates as obviously for planting gardens the upcoming weather matters.

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

Super cooled water is water droplets that remain as a liquid even though the temperature of those water droplets is below zero and can be as cold as -40c. Ice usually forms at 0c. For that to happen in the atmosphere the ice has to form around a particle of dust, etc, or at ground level, on any surface. With super cooled water droplets the droplets are so high there are no particles for the ice to form around so the droplets remain as a liquid. Then when that super cooled water falls as rain, it freezes on contact with anything it lands on. Most people know it as freezing rain.

Virga is rain that falls but evaporates before it reaches the ground.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virga
 
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In posting the above I decided to look through my photos of clouds. When I first moved to my flat about 15 years ago, I think, and being on top of a hill, very near to the UK south coast, and 15 floors up, and facing south west, I took loads and loads of pictures of clouds, sunsets and other weather related stuff. The novelty soon wore off and sadly my very expensive camera now lies unused.

I was fortunate in that first year to see quite a rare phenomena of noctilucent clouds which occur in the earths upper atmosphere under certain conditions but always to the north. The higher the latitude, to more likely they are to be seen. In 50 odd years of observing clouds and an interest in the weather, I have never seen them before or since despite looking every year for them at the right time of year.

To see this as a picture is weird enough but to see it with the naked eye is weirder still. Blue clouds at night time....

The bottom picture shows the top of the window frame in the top right hand corner.

The red glow is from the sun. It doesn't go far below the horizon at that time of year in the UK compared to winter. It's know as astronomical twighlight. It never really gets dark unlike winter which I hate. Light fading at 3pm in it's depths. Horrible.

The pictures were taken at around midnight. I took loads of them.

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

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


noctilucent .jpg
noctilucent 1.jpg
 
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kesavaross said:
In posting the above I decided to look through my photos of clouds. When I first moved to my flat about 15 years ago, I think, and being on top of a hill, very near to the UK south coast, and 15 floors up, and facing south west, I took loads and loads of pictures of clouds, sunsets and other weather related stuff. The novelty soon wore off and sadly my very expensive camera now lies unused.

I was fortunate in that first year to see quite a rare phenomena of noctilucent clouds which occur in the earths upper atmosphere under certain conditions but always to the north. The higher the latitude, to more likely they are to be seen. In 50 odd years of observing clouds and an interest in the weather, I have never seen them before or since despite looking every year for them at the right time of year.

To see this as a picture is weird enough but to see it with the naked eye is weirder still. Blue clouds at night time....

The bottom picture shows the top of the window frame in the top right hand corner.

The red glow is from the sun. It doesn't go far below the horizon at that time of year in the UK compared to winter. It's know as astronomical twighlight. It never really gets dark unlike winter which I hate. Light fading at 3pm in it's depths. Horrible.

The pictures were taken at around midnight. I took loads of them.

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

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


View attachment 66728View attachment 66729
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I have a feeling I might have seen this same noctilucent cloud event also. I was in London and it was really quite spectacular, there was a large area of bright clouds reaching up towards the zenith.

The below article suggests June 2006, slightly over 15 years.

https://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2021/06...-clouds-over-brixton-from-our-photo-archives/
 
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