Genesis of Kelvin Helmholtz

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cupoteacoast
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Genesis of Kelvin Helmholtz

Unread post by cupoteacoast »

During the westerlies over the past few days, Kapiti Island fired off narrow streams of cloud cannoning of its north end. Very interesting to watch. There were 3 lines of lowish clouds, one to Paraparaumu, one to Paekakariki and one into the hills south of Paekakariki. The line into Paekakariki formed a major arc, bending back towards Paekakariki, then went inland at the northern end. As soon as it hit land, the cloud stream formed constant Kelvin Helmholtz clouds, and then headed straight to Mt Wainui behind Paek. It was intriguing to watch. The wind was wicked, hard to stand up in and blew my tripod down the bank, so my shots are not all that clear! The cloud stream into the hills south of here, hit the main hills above Centennial Highway, just before Pukerua Bay and then came back northward, flowing along the hill tops like Southerly, straight into Mt Wainui. It explained perfectly to me why we were getting insane southerly gusts as we often do here, when it was a strong NW-W. Cool to watch the clouds streams and how they flowed just like a fast flowing liquid. We are often overcast or windy and cold at the north end of Paek, and we get what the locals call the freezing cold crosswinds - the S/SE coming at us when it should not be. This explains it, everything converges on Mt Wainui which is behind us.
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cupoteacoast
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Re: Genesis of Kelvin Helmholtz

Unread post by cupoteacoast »

Cloud stream coming in from Kapiti Island.
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cupoteacoast
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Re: Genesis of Kelvin Helmholtz

Unread post by cupoteacoast »

As soon as the fast cloud stream hit land, it turned dark and almost irridescent, two clouds merged as one and KH clouds very quickly formed.
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Re: Genesis of Kelvin Helmholtz

Unread post by cupoteacoast »

Up in the air they go
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Re: Genesis of Kelvin Helmholtz

Unread post by cupoteacoast »

Hooks forming
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Re: Genesis of Kelvin Helmholtz

Unread post by cupoteacoast »

Done. They dissipated very rapidly as the next lot formed in exactly the same manner, over and over.
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Re: Genesis of Kelvin Helmholtz

Unread post by cupoteacoast »

As these died, changed colour back to a whitish-grey, and moved towards Mt Wainui, smaller, ruder hooks formed. I have the entire sequence of these forming, but the high winds made it impossible to grab any decent shots. Especially with my tripod down the bank! My mission in life is re-photograph this, in good sharp pix. I'm just an amateur who LOVES and gets excited about anything weather and cloud, so please feel free to comment or correct as you wish.
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Michael
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Re: Genesis of Kelvin Helmholtz

Unread post by Michael »

Hope we get to see some more pictures soon. ;)
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