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nacreous clouds


Casper

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You guys should come to the mountains more. :) I've seen these twice, though nothing as large as those pics, not even close. That early in the morning, you're not quite sure that you see it, its a blur of a formless rainbow. Th wind blowing over mountain ranges can push air and moisture higher up then normal. Add to that winter temps, easily reaching that low when that high, and the correct angle of sunlight, and you've got a perplexing and amazing sight. What I saw was more this speed:

http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/highsky/n32a.jpg

 

Once, for a period of about 20 mins, I swore the town of Wellington, Co was a UFO. It was 4am, and I was already 2hrs into the climb...leave me alone. :p

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You guys should come to the mountains more. :) I've seen these twice, though nothing as large as those pics, not even close. That early in the morning, you're not quite sure that you see it, its a blur of a formless rainbow. Th wind blowing over mountain ranges can push air and moisture higher up then normal. Add to that winter temps, easily reaching that low when that high, and the correct angle of sunlight, and you've got a perplexing and amazing sight.

 

Once, for a period of about 20 mins, I swore the town of Wellington, Co was a UFO. It was 4am, and I was already 2hrs into the climb...leave me alone. :p

 

 

Hahaha... No dude, you didn't see these. You most likely saw iridescent clouds.

 

http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/droplets/irid1.htm

 

Big difference. nacreous clouds only form in temps colder than -85C (-120F).

 

Iridescent clouds are cool too though, don't get me wrong.

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Big difference. nacreous clouds only form in temps colder than -85C (-120F).

 

I think your Farenheit figure is off - isn't it more like -185F? (I think the Celcius figure is correct - the -85C, but, -85C doesn't translate into -120F, if I remember correctly.)

 

Also, Eric, unless the mountaining you did was in Antartica, then I'd have to agree with Stillman - you didn't see nacreous clouds.

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The reason you see them in polar regions is the cold, not the fact that they're polar. In places where the ground temp is -20, it's not at all outlandish for the stratosphere tempst to reach as low as -200f. -85 deg is -121f. The first winter attempt of Denali, only 20,000 ft, the climbers experienced -148deg when stuck in a storm.

 

These absolutely form places other then the arctic. I'm not the only one who's seen them, and its a topic of regular discussion in the climbing community.

To quote one ot the pages you cited:

They occur mostly but not exclusively in polar regions.....
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I think your Farenheit figure is off - isn't it more like -185F? (I think the Celcius figure is correct - the -85C, but, -85C doesn't translate into -120F, if I remember correctly.)

 

Also, Eric, unless the mountaining you did was in Antartica, then I'd have to agree with Stillman - you didn't see nacreous clouds.

 

 

I dunno, I used http://www.wbuf.noaa.gov/tempfc.htm

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-85 C is -121 F, we've got oodles of conversion charts here at work.

 

In other news, anyone catch the Weather Channel this morning? The clouds, spotted over Florida. All you need is moisture, low temps,a nd the sun at the right angle. This just happens more at the poles, it's consistently colder and the son doesn't move as much. ;)

 

Other cool clouds from cold places:

Peak in a wind tunnel

Crashing waves

A wake in the sky

Lenticular Cloud, Natures UFO

 

Index

 

A tip for those who want to trek in the hills; The most beutiful clouds are warnings of the worst weather, even the little ones, even the Nacereous. With nature, the things that provie her beuty are also what prover her fury.

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