New Cloud discovered?

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Razor
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New Cloud discovered?

Unread post by Razor »

Off on a light tangent, what do we think folks- I'm picking some lively discussion onm the matter! I have seen clouds like this in Fiordland and over on the West Coast quite regularly

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/world/60876/u ... e-cloud039
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Re: New Cloud discovered?

Unread post by Michael »

Looks like mattamus with rain behind it.
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Re: New Cloud discovered?

Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

looks like a grouped together bunch of kelvin waves ?
there was a post here recently about gravity wave clouds....this looks similar to those too
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Re: New Cloud discovered?

Unread post by NZstorm »

Looks like startocumulus. Obviously a bit sculptured but this type of stratocu is already well documented.
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Re: New Cloud discovered?

Unread post by gllitz »

We get clouds like that all the time here in Canty too...especially if there is a really well defined NW arch...what may have thrown that lady is the fact that the clouds were undulating so rapidly?
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Re: New Cloud discovered?

Unread post by Tornado Tim »

Looks very turbulent....It doesnt look new however to me.
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Re: New Cloud discovered?

Unread post by spwill »

I think it is the base of Cumulus cloud on a wind change, the wind change already through.
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Re: New Cloud discovered?

Unread post by Myself »

Further to what glitz said, Bob McDavitt wrote a Blog post about it:

http://blog.metservice.com/pages/asperatus/

He also links Asperatus to the NW Arch
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Re: New Cloud discovered?

Unread post by NZstorm »

I think the cloud in question is fairly low based, I'm thinking between 2 and 4000ft so I've labeled it a form of stratocumulus but it could be the base of a cumulus I guess. The NW arch is very elevated, normally around 20,000feet.
Last edited by NZstorm on Fri 12/06/2009 18:26, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New Cloud discovered?

Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

I would say the light/dark is caused by big changes in the height of the cloud above (i.e more/less shadow)
and also the sun position/angle would need to be such to show this up more
(a bit like how the setting sun makes the underside of jet stream cloud reveal its detail)
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Re: New Cloud discovered?

Unread post by Myself »

Isn't the idea that asperatus could be tagged onto a cloud of any height though. Doesn't matter whether it's low, mid or high just so long as it's undulating. I guess you could have Stratocumulus Asperatus, and Altocumulus Asperatus.
Dunno...I'm not really into cloud names, it's just a form of book-keeping to my mind and barely even a lick on the science of meteorology.
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Re: New Cloud discovered?

Unread post by spwill »

Iowa is generally flatt country.
I think we are looking at the back end of a Gust Front, Cu or Cb over head, skies about to clear.
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Re: New Cloud discovered?

Unread post by Inny Binny »

Was on wattsupwiththat.com a couple of weeks ago, assuming it's the same thing. An especially stunning photo here:

http://chattahbox.com/images/2009/05/as ... _cloud.jpg

Cloud classification I think is fine, but it can hardly be called 'scientifically rigourous'.
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Re: New Cloud discovered?

Unread post by NZ Thunderstorm Soc »

I'm into naming things and I think that Bob McDavitt's name would be the best for that cloud form.
but then....
I would of thought of a more scrumptuous name like 'wringer' cloud may do as the look like sheets being wringed out :? :?:

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Re: New Cloud discovered?

Unread post by Dale »

Well done guys!

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/stor ... 16,00.html

I know Matt Pearce personally.. take it all with a grain of salt.
Havent laughed so hard in a long time however \:D/
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Re: New Cloud discovered?

Unread post by Razor »

NZ Thunderstorm Soc wrote:I'm into naming things and I think that Bob McDavitt's name would be the best for that cloud form.

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A cloud called Bob McDavitt??? Lol :lol: :B :B :lol:
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