Weird, huh?

Photo by Craig Johnson, September 2, 2019, Cedar Falls, Iowa

Weird, huh? Maybe not as weird as it appears. To begin, these are altocumulus. Altocumulus are a mid-level cloud found between 6,000 feet and 18,000 feet with a cumulus (puffy) structure. These altocumulus are also a type of wave cloud. There are waves moving from the bottom to the tip of the photo and from left to right. The crest of each wave (upward motion) forms a cloud while valleys (downward motion) create blue sky.

Weather involves processes that occur on a range of scales from large to small. Looking at this photo, notice 3 main bands of waves extending from left to right while moving from the bottom to the top. At the same time, within each wave, smaller cloud bands are lined up from left to right. It looks like there are large waves moving from the bottom to the top of this photo and smaller waves moving from left to right across each large cloud band. For example, the middle band has left to right oriented waves on the left and smaller waves on the right. The smaller waves feather out into the blue sky.

Most people glance at the sky. Try spending time looking closer. Watch how the clouds move and notice how their shapes change. See if you can identify the basic cloud types: puffy (cumulus), layered (stratus), and hair-like (cirrus).