Calling all weathermen

[Tom Rankin]

We saw this 'cloud arc' Saturday before a storm front came in (about 1 minute later we were hit with strong gusts of wind). It's taken from Phelps looking West over Avalanche Pass. Colden is to the left, and Algonquin is to the Wright (ha-ha). Speaking of Wright, I also read that winds on Wright were very strong that day...

Comments on what causes this phenomenon or photographic critiques are welcome.

 

[grouseking]

I'm not a weatherman....

Saturday was the day that a warm front moved in. There is a chance that was the warm front that moved through, which normally indicates a shift in the wind direction.

Warm front
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/af/frnts/wfrnt/def.rxml

The clouds look like they are lifted orographically, meaning by the topography. It also looks like there might have been a small snow shower associated with that, (tough to tell) which makes me think it could be the warm front. So my best guess is the clouds were already lifting in the presence of this warm front, and then were orographically lifted a bit more.

http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gl)/guides/mtr/cld/mch/orgl.rxml

Neat pic. btw. I love cloud shots!!

grouseking

 

[sardog1]

Well, heres my WAG.

That valley you're looking at was filled with cold(er) air. (That's why you can see a long way longitudinally through the valley.) When the afore-mentioned warm front arrived, the air behind the front rose over the valley air, being warmer and thus less dense. As it rose, the water vapor condensed to form the cloud that you saw.

The arc shape reflects the boundary between the lower surface of the warm air and the upper surface of the cold air. It's bowed because there was mixing of warm and cold air on the mountain ridges from friction at the surface but not so much over the valley.

That's my WAG and I'm sticking to it until someone who actually knows something comes along.