Clouds of the Day - April 15, 2020

Under the Spell of Cumulus

Today dawned clear but it didn’t stay that way. The solar radiation profile from today is on the far right of the meteograph below. Notice how radiation increased without interruption through the morning. Around Noon the first dip occurred in the profile before a brief sharp rise again. This coincided with a brief blockage due to clouds. Then came the sudden drop as cumulus clouds formed and spread across the sky. From then on it is easy to see the variations in cloud cover as solar energy increased and decreased quickly through out the afternoon. Look at the pictures below to see how the sky looked during the early afternoon.

Cumulus Clouds from Below

Cumulus Dark Cloud Base

Wind blown cumulus

Cumulus forming in cold air - Temperature 36

One more view of a ragged sky full of cumulus formed by solar heating of a cold air mass