xineann's favorite clouds web sites

Last login: 6 hours agoXineann: XineAnn is a person in a relationship from North By Northwest, Alaska, USA.; Likes 13,028 pages, 159 videos, 1,926 photos • 1,578 fans • Received 368 reviews; Member since Jul 09, 2007

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The Cloud Appreciation Society & Microbursts (May 08): May 8, 8:46pm 1 review nature, science, meteorology, clouds
http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/may-08/; Cloud of the Month for May About this Cloud: Cumulonimbus It is the beast of the lower atmosphere: roaring with deafening thunder; spitting shards of lightning and hailstones; whipping up twisting tornadoes and spawning dramatic cloud features, such as the udder-shaped mammatus clouds, cigar-shaped roll clouds and, well, wall-shaped wall clouds. Sometimes, the Cumulonimbus also produces something called a `microburst', which is best thought of as a cloud sneeze. Don't be deceived by the `micro' part: the sneeze of a Cumulonimbus is anything but restrained. A microburst is a very localized column of air - up to 2.5 miles (4km) across - which shoots earthwards from the base of the cloud, spreading outwards with violent force upon reaching the ground. With gusting speeds of up to 150 mph, these winds can damage buildings, fell trees, and have been known to cause aviation crashes. Much like human sneezes, microbursts can be either dry or wet. They do however last rather longer than ours: between 5 and 15 minutes. Along with chilly winds, the wet varieties produce sudden downpours. These can be quite heavy: enough to give you a cold, should you be in the firing line without the right clothing.

The Cloud Appreciation Society: Apr 2, 11:09am 1 review photography, poetry, weather, switzerland, clouds
http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/gallery/index.php?showimage=3760; "And what if after so many words" And what if after so many words, the word itself doesn't survive! And what if after so many wings of birds the stopped bird doesn't survive! It would be better then, really, if it were all swallowed up, and let's end it! To have been born only to live off our own death! To raise ourselves from the heavens toward the earth carried up by our own bad luck, always watching for the moment to put out our darkness with our shadow! It would be better, frankly, if it were all swallowed up, and the hell with it! And what if after so much history, we succumb, not to eternity, but to these simple things, like being at home, or starting to brood! What if we discover later all of a sudden, that we are living to judge by the height of the stars off a comb and off stains on a handkerchief! It would be better, really, if it were all swallowed up, right now! They'll say that we have a lot of grief in one eye, and a lot of grief in the other also, and when they look a lot of grief in both. . . . So then! . . . Naturally! . . . So! . . . Don't say a word! ~César Vallejo

Sundog in Switzerland found at The Cloud Appreciation Society. Poem stumbled to me by klassy

The Cloud Appreciation Society & Irridescent Clouds (April 08): Apr 2, 11:00am 0 review photography, science, meteorology, weather, clouds
http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/april-08/

The Cloud Appreciation Society & Northern Lights â€“ Aurora Borealis (March 08)

Apr 1, 12:19pm

1 review

astronomy, photography, science, clouds, norway
http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/march-08/

Cloud of the Month : Thor's Contrails As any astronomer will tell you, clouds are certainly not limited to the Earth's atmosphere. There are many different types of cloud to be found in space. This month's Cloud of The Month is a break from the norm. It shows the Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, which are the effects on our atmosphere of a cloud that reaches us from the Sun. The immense explosions and flares on the Sun's surface throw out `plasma clouds' of charged particles, such as electrons, protons and ions. These travel at speeds of around a million miles per hour (400km/s). In spite of moving so fast, they still take up to three days to reach us from the Sun. The plasma clouds themselves are invisible. But we can see their effects as they come colliding into the Earth's upper atmosphere. When enough of the charged particles arrive, they cause a `magnetic storm' and interact with the atmospheric gases to release energy in the form of light. This is what causes the beautiful and elusive aurora colours in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Cloud Appreciation Society Member, Mark Humpage, recently travelled to Norway to view this amazing phenomenon. You can read about his exploits here: markhumpage.blogspot.com. Mark tells us that the Vikings thought the Northern Lights were the contrails of Thor's chariot being pulled by three goats. This sounds no less believable to us than magnetic storms caused by million-mile-an-hour plasma clouds.

The Cloud Appreciation Society: Feb 11, 8:05pm 103 reviews meteorology, clouds
http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/

The Cloud Appreciation Society & Ice halos (February 08)

Feb 11, 7:52pm

1 review

science, meteorology, clouds
http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/february-08/

Yes, Virginia, there is a cloud of the month. This is so incredibly cool: Halo, what's that? There are many coloured arcs and rings, known as `halo phenomena', which can appear as the sunlight passes through tiny ice crystals in the sky. Over many parts of the world, these optical effects are most commonly seen through high clouds such as Cirrostratus or Cirrus. But the most dramatic displays of halo phenomena are often when the ice crystals are in the form of a ground-level cloud known as `diamond dust'. This is what produced the beautiful light display shown above. Diamond dust is so named because of the way it sparkles in the sunlight. It is rather like mist, but consists of ice crystals rather than water droplets. When crystals form near ground level like this, they can grow more slowly than they do in clouds high in the sky. This can make them very pure from an optical point of view - clear like glass, rather than cloudy like ice cubes. If they also happen to form in the right shapes, the crystals in diamond dust can behave like countless microscopic prisms. These are what diffract and reflect the sunlight to form halo effects. There are a whole range of possible arcs, circles and points of light that can appear. The fantastic display shown here, over Saalbach, in Austria, exhibits no less than five halo phenomena. The circle around the sun is called a `22˚ halo', while the points of light on either side of it are known as 'sun dogs', or `parhelia'. The line joining these with the sun (which hidden behind the trees) is called the `parhelic circle'. Finally, the arc appearing at the top of the image, just kissing the 22˚ halo, is known as an `upper tangent arc'. Explore the Cloud Appreciation Society pages.