There seems to be no end to strange cloud formations! From Punch hole clouds
to cloud vortices, enjoy these rarely seen cloud formations!
Punch Hole Clouds may appears a circular or oval holes in a layer of supercooled clouds;
sometimes they assume a form of a perfect circle and persist for quite a long time,
drifting together with the cloud layer. One explanation seems to blame the air traffic
(the jet contrail intersections) combined with a thermal inversion (a circular motion
of a rising warm air). Here is one observed over the Gunnison Valley in Colorado.
Another strange hole in the cloud, reported from Mobile, Alabama, USA. Dec, 2003
(and covered by BBC news)
Photo taken in Melbourne, Australia in 2003.
It seems both rising and sinking air currents can create the same effect. Sometimes
a very stable, uniform layer of high-altitude clouds can get "punched through" by
a pocket of cold air, which sinks toward the ground - creating the circular hole formation.
These "cloud holes" can look like the footprints of some celestial being
or can be amazingly round, like this pair observed in Gallatin, Tennessee
by Wayne Carter.
NASA Terra Satellite equipped with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) has captured these images over Acadiana area in southern Louisiana - a splattering
of round holes actually stretched over several states: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and
Texas. Some were elongated, some appeared to have smaller clouds inside them.
Cloud Vortices: another "holey" sky phenomena..
Theodore von Karman's "Cloud Vortices" are something else, again : they form
when the wind encounters a barrier - such as the Aleutian islands , in this case -
and the flowing eddies of cloud create a weird pattern. The image you see below
was photographed from the International Space Station, and the animation shows
the double row of vortices, which rotate opposite from each other.
Extremely strong thunderstorm cloud brewing over northwest Calgary
Another supercell cloud in Alberta skies, this time over Edmonton.
"Mushroom"?
Another cloud "wave".....
Roll Clouds....get into a small plane and start surfing them....
A Cloud Angel
2 light-sabers get crossed in the sky
A fire breathing "rabbit-dragon" ...and a fantastic cloud edge..
A "Genie", coming out of a bottle...
Spectacular Lenticulars in the morning light.....
....and a whole "pancake" stack of them, over at mount Rainier in Washington
Stormy
An interesting Rainbow effect
Nacreous Clouds
Prepare to get squashed, Earthlings!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Rarely Seen Cloud Formations
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Pretty Clever
This has got to be one of the best I've received in a while.
Someone out there is deadly at Scrabble.
(Wait till you see the last one)!
DORMITORY:
When you rearrange the letters:
DIRTY ROOM
PRESBYTERIAN:
When you rearrange the letters:
BEST IN PRAYER
ASTRONOMER:
When you rearrange the letters:
MOON STARER
DESPERATION: When you rearrange the letters:
A ROPE ENDS IT
THE EYES: !
When you rearrange the letters:
THEY SEE
GEORGE BUSH:
When you rearrange the letters:
HE BUGS GORE
THE MORSE CODE :
When you rearrange the letters:
HERE COME DOTS
SLOT MACHINES:
When you rearrange the letters:
CASH LOST IN ME
ANIMOSITY:
When you rearrange the letters:
IS NO AMITY
ELECTION RESULTS:
When you rearrange the letters:
LIES - LET'S RECOUNT
SNOOZE ALARMS:
When you rearrange the letters:
ALAS! NO MORE Z 'S
A DECIMAL POINT:
When you rearrange the letters:
IM A DOT IN PLACE
THE EARTHQUAKES:
When you rearrange the letters:
THAT QUEER SHAKE
ELEVEN PLUS TWO:
When you rearrange the letters:
TWELVE PLUS ONE
AND FOR THE GRAND FINALE:
MOTHER-IN-LAW:
When you rearrange the letters:
WOMAN HITLER
Monday, February 16, 2009
Painted Bathroom Floor & Ceiling...
This is a ceiling mural in a smoker's lounge.
Imagine you are at a party on the 10th floor of a high rise building.....
and then you have to visit the bathroom...
you open the door.....
