Giant Tsunami-Shape Clouds

[theshee]

For a morning, the sky looked like a surfer's dream: A series of huge breaking waves lined the horizon in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday (Dec. 16), their crests surging forward in slow motion. Amazed Alabamans took photos of the clouds and sent them to their local weather station, wondering, "What are these tsunamis in the sky?"

Experts say the clouds were pristine examples of "Kelvin-Helmholtz waves." Whether seen in the sky or in the ocean, this type of turbulence always forms when a fast-moving layer of fluid slides on top of a slower, thicker layer, dragging its surface.

Water waves, for example, form when the layer of fluid above them (i.e., the air) is moving faster than the layer of fluid below (i.e., the water). When the difference between the wind and water speed increases to a certain point, the waves "break" — their crests lurch forward — and they take on the telltale Kelvin-Helmholtz shape.

According to Chris Walcek, a meteorologist at the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center at the State University of New York, Albany, fast-moving air high in the sky can drag the top of slow-moving, thick clouds underneath it in much the same way.

[boxfree]

That is very odd...

[brillbilly]

I've never seen them befor shee,but i bet we will see even more new cloud weirdness over the coming years!

[alienbeing]

[theshee]

Cheers AB I've never seen clouds like this befor, its a new one on me. Its unreal how big they are!!

[theshee]

Brill you were right!





A misty “tsunami” has hit the coastline of Panama City, Florida, USA. A helicopter pilot managed to capture rare phenomenon and has posted breathtaking photos on Facebook.

­JR Hott, who makes his living, flying tourists in a helicopter over the city and the Gulf of Mexico, took photos of clouds of fog developing over buildings while hovering over Panama City’s coastline.

As the photographer explained to KATU News, such a phenomenon can be observed in Panama City a couple of times a year. Previously, he and his team did not dare to take off in poor visibility conditions, but this time their curiosity was overcome and they took off.

"This time it was progressing west to east. We jumped into helicopter and took off," the news agency quoted him as saying. “Within a few minutes after we landed, it covered up the helipad,' the seasoned pilot said.”

"When the temperature, humidity and winds are just right, we'll get this fog that forms on the high rise condos on the beach," Hott wrote on his company's Facebook page.

Scientists have their own explanation for this cloud bank.

Warm masses of air are coming from the Gulf of Mexico, meet obstacles and rise above the skyscrapers. And at height colder air turns them into the clouds. Then they "slide" down on the opposite walls of buildings, where the clouds heat and then dissipate.
rt.com/news/clouds-tsunami-us-florida-913/

[brillbilly]

bloody hell,it's like a scene out of Day After Tomorrow.!?