Meteorology

Terrific, the power and beauty of nature in a three minutes footage. Make sure to see in full-screen, and click on “HD” after starting.

Time lapse cinematography of the structured supercell outbreak near Climax, Kansas on May 10, 2014.

Undulatus asperatus

Undulatus asperatus is a new separate cloud classification currently on petition to be added to the official list of observable cloud types. If accepted as a distinct cloud type, it will be the first addition to the list of cloud types since cirrus intortus was added in 1951. It was proposed by the founder of The Cloud Appreciation Society. Recognition of the cloud classification is still pending.

A stunning picture has won the National Geographic Traveler contest this year. Supercell over the plains of eastern Colorado.

Location: Julesburg, Colorado, USA

Credit: Marko Korošec

This Bizarre, Glittering Cloud Just Appeared in the Sky over Australia

The ABC is reporting an incredible sight in the skies over east Victoria, in the Gippsland area. It looks like a UFO, but it’s entirely natural.

Photo by Peter Fell via ABC News

No, it’s not chemtrails. Instead, it’s a type of cloud called a Fallstreak Hole. You may recognize that it glimmers in a way that’s similar to the contrails of jets. That’s because a similar phenomenon causes it. That rainbow look is the result of water crystals in the clouds freezing and refracting the light. Those frozen crystals have also made one patch of the cloud slightly heavier, pulling it downward from the rest of the cloud layer, and giving it that odd, punch-out look.

Haunting Images of the Size and Power of Dust Storms.

Dust storms are a common aspect of life for many cities around the world, however some have the ability to grow into something more hazardous than a mere inconvenience. 

They are constructed when loosely packed ground is in the presence of a prevailing wind system that is strong enough to dislodge it. If the wind system is strong enough, such as in situations of heavy or cyclonic weather, the dust storm will travel at the same velocity. 

Particles from particular dust storms have been found halfway across the earth, and plumes of up to 5km in height and 100km in width are possible in the right conditions. Apart from the obvious loss of visibility, dust storms pose serious health risks; especially to the respiratory system. 

Mammatus Clouds Fill the Sky after Sunset Following a Squall Line // June 26, 2011 // Nebraska, USA Photography by Brett Nickeson

Lightning is awesome and today the Department of Awesome Natural Phenomena presents a form of lightning we’d never heard of before: blue jet lightning. This is a form of upper-atmospheric lightning, believed to be electrically induced forms of luminous plasma. It’s also known as a transient luminous event (or TLE) because the various types of electrical-discharge phenomena in the upper atmosphere lack several characteristics of the more familiar tropospheric lightning.

This stunning photo of blue jet lightning was captured by pilot and photographer Thijs Bors while flying over the Northern Territory of Australia during a thunderstorm. Blue jet lightning typically occurs in a narrow cone, projecting from the top of cumulonimbus clouds above a thunderstorm to the lowest levels of the ionosphere 40 to 50 km (25 to 30 miles) above the earth.

Charges Ahead by Julie Fletcher:

“I followed a massive storm front for several hundred kilometers hoping to capture something special, but this blew my mind. The surreal milky green water is a natural phenomenon caused by electromagnetic activity from the lightning hitting the water’s surface. There was no rain where I was and not much wind either, but in the distance the sky was charged and angry, subjecting its wrath [to] the graveyard of dead trees in this normally very dry lakebed. I was able to capture a series of unique images, this being one of the best.”

Photo Location: Menindee Lakes, New South Wales, Australia