7 types of rare and
amazing clouds (w/ pics and videos) |
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Mammatus clouds |
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These
pouch-like clouds seem to be the
harbringers of thunderstorms and tornadoes and (in many
cases) that’s exactly what they are. They form after a long
and warm periods and the intensely sheared environment in
which Mammatus forms makes them every
aviator’s nightmare. |
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Altocumulus Castelanus |
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These
jellyfish clouds are formed a mass of moist air
moves fast from the Gulf Stream and gets trapped between two layers
of dry air. The part from the top rises while the evaporated rain
drops form the lower part of the cloud. |
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Arcus clouds |
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They are the result a cold front of air or a
thundestorm front, or of microburst activity.
What happens is the cooler air sinks and spreads across the cloud
and the outflow prevents the warm air from being drawn in the storm
updraft and the
cool air lifts the warm moist air, water condenses creating a cloud
which often rolls with the different winds above and below (by
wikipedia)
These clouds have two main categories: |
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a) Roll clouds
Roll clouds seem to be taken out of a new Stargate series or
something and they’re an amazing sight to
contemple. |
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b) Shelf clouds
The main difference from roll clouds is that shelf clouds are
attached to the base of the parent cloud, which as you could have
guess, means thunderstorm. |
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Nacreous clouds |
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Nacreous clouds are also known as
Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) and they
are formed in the winter polar stratosphere and they have a
big impact in creating ozone holes as they further
contribute to the depletion of ozone by supporting chemical
reactions that produce active chlorine which catalyzes
ozone destruction. Bad, bad clouds !! |
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Also called mother of pearl clouds or sun dogs,
these rare clouds are rarely seen, but once you do, you most
definitely won’t forget them. But if you haven’t, here are some
videos. |
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Noctilucent clouds |
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In all fairness,
noctilucent clouds should actually be called
cloud-like phenomena as they are formed at very big altitudes, from
76 to 85 km (even 100 km by some), making them the highest formed
phenomena that could be called clouds; yeah, they are formed on the
border between our atmosphere and space. They are extremely rare
and usually, even when visible, very very
faint. |
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Their seem to be very luminous, but what they
actually do is reflect the sunlight from the other side of the
earth at night. |
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Mushroom clouds |
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Last but most
definitely not least, we have mushroom clouds; these very
distinctive clouds are the result of smoke, condensed water vapor,
or other similar substances after an explosion or eruption. They
are especially known from nuclear explosions, but any big enough
blast can form them, including natural
sources. |
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