The most unusual clouds in the sky

Since ancient times, people viewed heaven as something mysterious and mysterious, not given a logical explanation. This was the place of the gods and an intermediate stage on the way to another world. Cloud phenomena are associated with astronomical, divine or celestial concepts. People can see in them the silhouettes of animals, people, symbolic signs of nature, deities and much more.

Probably, there is no man on earth who, at least once in his life, did not lie on the grass, mentally embracing the bright sky and admiring the floating clouds. Such happy moments, as a rule, happen more often in childhood. The older the person, the more he cares, and the less he pays attention to the beauty that surrounds him.

Time passes, the sky remains as boundless, beautiful and inimitable as the clouds, which rush with speed to an unknown distance. Or slowly swim over our heads, acquiring strange and bizarre forms. In this article we will look at the most unusual clouds that exist in nature.

A surprising natural phenomenon

Cloud masses are never the same, they are invariably diverse and always worthy of the attention of a person, because they are incredibly beautiful and amazing in their essence.

Clouds are divided into various categories, have interesting names, features of their appearance. They represent a subject of discussion and study of meteorologists from around the world for many centuries. But we, ordinary people, as a rule, do not notice them at all for a layer of problems in the life cycle. We suggest you to admire the heavenly creations, from which simply the spirit captures. In science they are called cloud formations. Nature has created a huge number of their species with different shapes, sizes and colors. In addition, there are some specimens that are extremely rare, and can even be observed once in the entire world history.

Lightning collar

This is an incredibly beautiful weather phenomenon with an interesting name "storm collar". Long clouds of unusual shape, formed before the onset of cold fronts. They appear when the warm moist air cools and, condensing, creates a collar. Air streams can spin around its axis, but a tornado does not appear from it.

Lenticular

The most unusual clouds are uniquely lenticular (lenticular). Very rare phenomenon. They are created on the crests of air waves. An unimaginable feature of these clouds is that they do not move, but stand in the firmament as glued, no matter how strong the vortex may be. People talk about them as suspended UFO cymbals in the atmosphere. The appearance of lenticular clouds indicates a high moisture content in the air and an approximation of the atmospheric front.

Silvery

The second name is luminous, very unusual clouds in the sky. This is one of the highest formations, which are observed at an altitude of 80-95 kilometers. The view was opened in 1885. Their second name is "glowing clouds," which corresponds to their appearance.

In the afternoon they are invisible, since they are very thin, but through them stars can shine through. Observe this beauty can be in the summer in the Northern Hemisphere, in the winter - in the South.

The Fallstreak Effect

It occurs in cirrus-cumulus clouds - a very rare phenomenon, manifested in the ring rupture. These holes are created when the water temperature in them falls below zero, but it has not frozen yet. When a certain part of the water in the cloud freezes, it settles on the ground and thereby forms holes.

Promiscuous

They consist of unusual cellular forms. Meet them can be extremely rare and mainly in tropical latitudes, as they affect the formation of tropical cyclones. These clouds are gray-blue in color, like everyone else, however, when the sun's rays fall on them, they can be gold or red.

Wavy clouds

Looking at the photo of unusual clouds, you can immediately understand why they are called wavy. Something like the water in the ocean, which went rippling.

Speaking clouds

The unusual form of such formations is very impressive. As a rule, they appear before a thunderstorm, although they can be precursors of cold air. They are a bit like thunder collars, but their difference is that the projecting clouds are connected by a huge cloud mass that is hidden from above.

Fiery unusual clouds

The second name is "pyrocumulus". Are created during a powerful heating of air on the surface of the earth. This species occurs due to forest fires, volcanic eruptions or an atomic explosion. In appearance, they resemble clouds of dust after explosions.

Beam

They were opened in 1960. The name comes from the Greek "ray" and is associated with an effective structure. The size reaches 300 km in diameter, so you can contemplate them from the satellite. Today, scientists can not give a definitive answer as to how these clouds form.

Polar stratospheric clouds

The second name is "mother-of-pearl". Formed at an altitude of 15 to 25 km in the cold parts of the stratosphere (the temperature is usually below -80 degrees). This species appears relatively rarely. For all the time such formations were noted only 100 times, not more. And the whole point is that in the stratosphere the accumulation of water vapor is thousands of times less than in the troposphere.

Cloud-cap

Very vividly changes the configuration. By appearance, high-layer clouds, usually located above the cumulonimbus clouds. They can also be created from an ash or fiery cloud texture, during a volcanic eruption for example.

Morning glory

Unusual clouds, long and horizontal. Something like rotating pipes. They can reach up to 1000 km in length, from 1 to 2 km in height. They are located only 150-200 meters above the ground and move at a speed of up to 60 km / h.

This kind of clouds can be noticed everywhere, but only in spring time in Queensland (in Australia) they are in a more or less stable position. Morning glory is formed very often due to a sudden heavy wind.

Rough waves

In 2009, they were singled out for a special kind of cloud called Undulatus asperatus. The last time special cloud phenomena were introduced into the International Atlas in 1951. They resemble ominous and demonic clouds, similar to the seething waters of the sea with a dark rumpled surface. Many associated in due time these clouds with supposedly approaching apocalyptic events in 2012.