Posted on 06/05/2009 4:33:02 PM PDT by JoeProBono
These choppy clouds over Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in an undated picture could be examples of the first new type of cloud to be recognized since 1951. Or so hopes Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society.
The British cloud enthusiast said he began getting photos of "dramatic" and "weird" clouds (including the above) in 2005 that he didn't know how to define.
A few months ago he began preparing to propose the odd formations as a new cloud variety to the UN's World Meteorological Organization, which classifies cloud types.
Pretor-Pinney jokingly calls it the "Jacques Cousteau cloud," after its resemblance to a roiling ocean surface seen from below. But the cloud fan has proposed a "formal," Latin name: Undulus asperatusroughly, "a very turbulent, violent, chaotic form of undulation," explained Pretor-Pinney, author of the new Cloud Collector's Handbook.
Margaret LeMone, a cloud expert with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, said that she has taken photos of asperatus clouds intermittently over the past 30 years.
It's likely that the cloud will turn out to be a new variety, LeMone said.
"Having a group of people enthusiastic about clouds can only help the field of meteorology," she added.
Asked how has such a striking cloud type could go unrecognized, Pretor-Pinney cites its rarityand the proliferation and portability of digital cameras. "Technology has allowed us to have this new perspective on the sky."
I am going to be pissed off if they discover a whole new type of clouds I know we’ve spent billions of dollars on crap like this why are they just finding out now?
Looks like what my stomach feels like after hearing any speeches from Obuma.
I really don’t know clouds at all.
Cloud Appreciation Society? Well, at least more benign than the Barack Obama appreciation society.
I’ve looked at them from both sides now.
WOW!!! just... WOW.
No doubt the result of global warming (barf)
Hee Hee. I got it. Still know that song by heart after what, 18 years or so.
And yes, it does look like a picture of “bows and flows of angel hair... and feathered canyons everywhere.”
You wanna see some new types of clouds? Visit New Jersey.
Rows and floes of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons evrywhere
Ive looked at clouds that way
Heyyy Youu, get off of my cloud!
Those look cool.
The land of cloudless days
The land of an unclouded sky
They tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise
They tell me of an unclouded day
WOW, that second picture is especially cool!
Those look cool.
My grandmother always called Judy Collins a hippy....That brought back that memory...
lenticular clouds
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