Artistic Cirrus Clouds

Photo taken 10-15-2022 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Copyright Craig Johnson, Weather Briefing, LC

Cirrus has a flair for the artistic and the dramatic! The clouds look out of focus but they aren’t. The soft edges are caused by ice crystals blowing off the cloud edges by winds in excess of 100 mph at cloud level. Cirrus are noted from hair-like filaments which are plainly visible in this photo.

Wind speeds reach speeds in excess of 100 mph along the jet stream, especially from fall through spring. Jet stream winds are strongest during the cold season when the temperature contrast between the poles and the lower mid-latitudes is greatest. Speeds are slower during the summer.

Below is the upper air flow this morning at approximately 30,000 ft. The direction is from the north and you can see the counterclockwise circulation, the telltale sign of a low pressure center near lower Michigan. The map covers the far western Great Lakes to the Northern and Central Plains. The wind plots use the same convention used to plot surface maps. Winds over Iowa are in excess of 110 knots or 127 mph from the north central to the southeast. Cirrus are found above 16,000 feet and can be seen higher than 30,000 feet. The cirrus in this photo are at or above the level of the jet contrail.