What are these coastal cloud formations?
November 23, 2010 12:50 PM Subscribe
Can you help me identify the meterological conditions that create these clouds?
I live on Bowen Island, which is in Howe Sound on the British Columbia coast. These cloud formations are very common on the east side of the inlet when there is damp weather, rain or, in this case, wet snow. The clouds usually hang around this level, 600 meters or so above the sea. What is interesting about this photo from last week is that you can see that the clouds are also at the freezing level.
These clouds come and go, but even in windy weather, they stay hanging close to the mountains in a thin band. Similar cloud formations occur up and down the BC coast and are used as harbingers of various kinds of weather currently occurring somewhere or soon to be occurring. In Howe Sound, the conditions include damp air, southeasterly winds (which bring wet weather but which don't reach this wall of mountains as they are on the lee side of those blows) and cloud at higher elevations.
I would love to know what these kinds of clouds are called and what causes them.
I live on Bowen Island, which is in Howe Sound on the British Columbia coast. These cloud formations are very common on the east side of the inlet when there is damp weather, rain or, in this case, wet snow. The clouds usually hang around this level, 600 meters or so above the sea. What is interesting about this photo from last week is that you can see that the clouds are also at the freezing level.
These clouds come and go, but even in windy weather, they stay hanging close to the mountains in a thin band. Similar cloud formations occur up and down the BC coast and are used as harbingers of various kinds of weather currently occurring somewhere or soon to be occurring. In Howe Sound, the conditions include damp air, southeasterly winds (which bring wet weather but which don't reach this wall of mountains as they are on the lee side of those blows) and cloud at higher elevations.
I would love to know what these kinds of clouds are called and what causes them.
Response by poster: Brilliant...thanks! The name alone led me to find this excellent publication (.pdf) on the Weather of BC.
posted by salishsea at 1:06 PM on November 23, 2010
posted by salishsea at 1:06 PM on November 23, 2010
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posted by valkyryn at 12:53 PM on November 23, 2010