Rare species of clouds

What is the cloud? This tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere and visible in the sky from the ground. The clouds, too, are well-known lyrical way, which is associated with peace and serenity.

Clouds are everywhere, in every part of our planet. But in nature there are also rare species of clouds, which very few people lucky enough to see.

Storm collar

This beautiful weather phenomenon called a storm collar - rare long clouds that are usually formed in front of the advancing cold fronts.

As there are clouds of this kind? The rising warm moist air cools down below the dew point and condenses, forms a cloud. If such a process takes place over the entire length along the elongated air front, it can be formed storm collar.

The air flows in the storm collar can circulate around its horizontal axis, but a tornado of such clouds can not get.

lenticular cloud

Lenticular (lens-shaped) clouds - a rare natural phenomenon. They are formed on the crests of waves of air or between two layers of air.

A surprising aspect of these clouds is that they do not move and are in the sky as glued, no matter how strong the wind. Like a UFO hovering in the air.

Clouds usually hang on the lee side of mountain ranges, over ridges and some peaks at a height of between 2 and 15 kilometers.

The emergence of lenticular clouds indicates that the air is sufficiently high moisture content. Usually this is due to the atmospheric front approaches.

Silver (night glowing) cloud

Noctilucent clouds - the highest cloud formations that appear at altitudes of 75-95 km. Opening time of this kind of cloud is considered to be the year 1885.

Another name for clouds - night shining clouds - most closely meets their appearance. During the day, even against the background of a clear sky, the clouds are not visible, so they are very thin to:. Through them easily visible stars.

Watch noctilucent clouds can be only in the summer months: in the northern hemisphere in June and July in the Southern Hemisphere, in late December and January.

The night after the Tunguska event June 30, 1908 noctilucent clouds were observed everywhere in Western Europe and Russia, becoming a source of optical anomalies.

Effect Fallstreak in Cirrocumulus

This rare effect can be observed in Cirrocumulus - large circumferential gap, which is called Fallstreak.

Such a "hole" in the clouds formed when water temperature is below zero in them, but it is not yet frozen. When the cloud of the water begins to freeze, it sometimes settles to the ground, forming a large "hole".

Because of the rarity of this natural phenomenon is often mistaken for UFOs.

MAMMATUS

These clouds (Mammatus clouds) have an unusual shape of a honeycomb. Rare and mostly in tropical latitudes, t. K. They are attached to form a tropical cyclone.

Cells clouds typically have a size of about 0.5 km, and often clearly distinguishable, although there are with soft edges.

The clouds are gray-blue color as that of the main cloud, but because of the falling rays of the sun may appear golden or reddish.

Wavy clouds

Looking at the views of these clouds, it is clear why they are called wavy.

iridescent cloud

It is a rare natural phenomenon associated with the appearance of colors in a cloud similar to those seen in oil films on puddles. Most often it occurs in Altocumulus, Cirrocumulus and lenticular (see. Above) clouds.

When sunlight is faced with small water droplets or ice crystals in a cloud, having different size, light refraction causes a color gamut, is called iridescence.

Shelf clouds

Shelf clouds (Shelf clouds) are impressive. They can usually be seen before the storm, although they may precede the front and relatively cool air.

Shelf clouds like a storm collar (see. Above), but differ from them, because it is always associated with a large cloud system lurking above.

The fiery clouds

Molten cloud or pirokumulyus (Pyrocumulus cloud, fire cloud) generated during intensive heating the air near the ground.

This type of clouds can occur during forest fires, volcanic eruption, an atomic explosion.

In fact, they are very similar to the dust cloud after the explosion:

Radiation clouds

Beam clouds were discovered in the 1960s. Their name (actinoform) comes from the Greek word "beam" and is connected with them, with their radial structure. Their size can be up to 300 kilometers in diameter, so they can only be seen from the satellite.

At present, scientists can not give precise explanations as produced this rare type of cloud.

The polar stratospheric clouds

Polar stratospheric clouds or nacreous clouds are formed at heights of 15 to 25 km in the stratosphere cold areas (temperature below -80S).

Appear this kind of clouds are very rare. Perhaps, in the history of Atmospheric Physics, polar stratospheric clouds were observed only about 100 times. The thing is that stratospheric water vapor concentration is several thousand times less than in the lower atmosphere (troposphere).

The cloud-cap

This is a small, fast-changing form horizontal, high-stratus clouds, which are usually located above the cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds. Cloud-cap can be formed above the cloud of ash or cloud of fire (see. Above) during eruption.

Morning Glory

It's strange, long horizontal clouds, similar to rotating tube: up to 1 000 km in length, from 1 to 2 km in height. They are only 100 to 200 meters above the ground and can travel at speeds up to 60 km / h.

This rare type of cloud can be seen all over the world, but only in the spring over the city Burktaunom in Queensland (Australia), they can be observed more or less constant and predictable. Education Morning Glory (Morning Glory) is often accompanied by sudden heavy wind.

Rough waves (Undulatus asperatus)

Only in 2009 it was asked to identify the unusual weather phenomenon as a separate type of cloud - Undulatus asperatus. Last time the new cloud formations were entered in the International Cloud Atlas already in 1951!