Mt. Rainier puts on a show!

KOMO news ^ | 12/5/2008 | Scott Sistek

[shove_it]

Our little dry streak is about to come to an end. But if you looked at Mt. Rainier today, you would have known that already.

Take a look at some of these incredible clouds captured over Mt. Rainier today. The one above was taken by Tim Thompson.

[...]

Those are called "lenticular clouds" They're caused when the air flow is just right so when it flows over Mt. Rainier, the air gets pushed upward where it cools and condenses into clouds. Depending on how smooth the flow is, you can get some amazing clouds formations as we've seen so far today. Here is more information on what causes them from an earlier blog entry.

It's usually a sign of rain within 24 hours because typically the moist flow that precedes a storm around here is the perfect set up for these clouds...

[shove_it]

This article is a month old but it didn't show up on FR search. Very unusual cloud formations - unusual to me, not being from tne asrea.

Pics at the linked article ...

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks for the post. Those are interesting clouds alright. We had some form in our area a few years back. I couldn’t remember seeing anything like them before, and I took some pictures. I’ll see if I can pull a few of them out to post.

[HelloooClareece]

How bizarre.

Quick! Somebody call MUFON!

[HangnJudge]

Impressive...

[LiberConservative]

GIANT FLYING SAUCERS! We’re under attack!!

[FlingWingFlyer]

Thanks for posting this. Great pictures!

[null and void]

No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth twentieth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable...

[nuconvert]

Wow Neat!

[Hazwaste]

The sunset picture is now my wallpaper. Thanks!

[Mr. K]

it looks to me like a little (weak) whirlopool like that which forms on the top of a pool of water if you stir it

nothing major like a storm, just a bit of swirl

[Jet Jaguar]

ping!

[Wild Irish Rogue]

Great photos.
A neat site for cloud photographs is http://cloudappreciationsociety.org/.
The photo gallery is a great tool for education and entertainment.

[ErnBatavia]

We get lenticulars over our desert mountains quite frequently.....I, too, have a shot I took out back as my wallpaper.

[Arthur McGowan]

I was going to say I saw a horsey and a ducky.

[fish hawk]

I thought that was a “no spin” zone.

[null and void]

That works too.

As long as you don’t say you see 0bama...

[EEDUDE]

Whoa! Where did I put my sailplane?

[sionnsar]

Say WA? Evergreen State ping

FReepmail sionnsar if you want on or off this ping list.

Ping sionnsar if you see a Washington state related thread.

[LiberConservative]

No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable...

... or that they were too stupid to realize Earth has bacteria that would kill them.

[schu]

Great photos!

I was at Camp Schurman once when the lenticulars moved in at 11PM. I recall looking out my tent and realized we were in for a looonnnggg night! My brother got some pixs, but I cannot find them.

About midnight the wind starting blowing, it sounded like a freight train headed right up the Emmons and Winthrop Glaciers. My tent barely survived!

We woke up, packed our stuff and made tracks for the parking lot. It rained like a banshee all the way down, we were totally soaked. ;-)

It was an incredible sight, not as good as these, but being right there was something! Thank You!

schu