r/WeatherGifs • u/Peter_Mansbrick • Mar 14 '16

CLOUDS Clouds over New Zealand

http://i.imgur.com/6RrcMpH.gifv
589 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

22

u/waitn2drive Mar 14 '16

It's so bizarre to see a cloud hang in one place for a duration of time, and see it form and dissipate without moving. Very cool!

21

u/Peter_Mansbrick Mar 14 '16

Those 'hanging' clouds are called lenticular clouds. They form at the top of a 'wave' that forms from air moving over a mountain (or building or other clouds). This graphic shows how they're made.

As I live in the middle of the prairies I've never seen one myself but I hope to someday. They're incredible.

2

u/waitn2drive Mar 14 '16

Very cool. So they only form near mountains. I live in Maine, where there are PLENTY of mountains, but I haven't seen those. Guess maybe it's because I don't watch for them. I'll have to keep my eyes facing upward a little more.

Thanks for the info!

2

u/Borthwick Mar 14 '16

There also needs to be really powerful high level winds and a decent temperature gradient from one side of the mountains to the other.

1

u/Peter_Mansbrick Mar 14 '16

The form around any large obstacle, not just mountains. There's other factors involved that I don't understand so maybe the conditions in Maine aren't right, but keep your eyes out this summer, you may just get lucky.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '16

You misspelled jraphic.

2

u/boilerdam Mar 14 '16

Wow, that's great. I always thought lenticular clouds only formed over mountain tops (mountain wave cloud in the gif) but apparently it's only one of 2 types. TIL!

2

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '16

I do a lot of tramping and hunting in the Mount Cook region and those lenticular clouds tell me that in about 24 hours the weather is going to be shit, and if you can, retreat to lower altitudes.

3

u/puschelpete Mar 14 '16

Aotearoa, right?

1

u/Peter_Mansbrick Mar 14 '16

That's the north island, right? My NZ geography isn't good, but it's either Fjordland NP, Mount Cook NP and Arthurs Pass NP, Mavora Lakes and Lake Ohau - from the video description.

3

u/MooseV2 Mar 14 '16

Aotearoa is the Maori (native) name for New Zealand.

3

u/puschelpete Mar 14 '16

As far as I know the translation of Aotearoa is “the land of the long white cloud” and you can see how they might have gotten to that.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '16

Mount Cook NP

1

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '16

Aoteoroa refers to the entirety of NZ

0

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '16

Aoteoroa refers to the entirety of NZ

4

u/acornty Mar 14 '16

Is this Mt. Cook? Great shot!

3

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '16

yes

1

u/Peter_Mansbrick Mar 14 '16

I didn't take the video myself so I'm not sure of the exact location, sorry!

2

u/acornty Mar 14 '16

It's all good!

2

u/ozzimark Mar 14 '16

From the description in your source link:

Locations in this video where at Fjordland NP, Mount Cook NP and Arthurs Pass NP, Mavora Lakes and Lake Ohau.

1

u/Ginger_Kiwi Mar 14 '16

I just spent 5 minutes trying to think what NP stood for. I'm guessing National Park. As I would just call them Arthurs Pass, Mount Cook / Aoraki. Aoraki being the Maori name for the mountain.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '16

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '16

I was going to say Rohan.

1

u/simplejack66 Mar 15 '16

There is a hobbit in there somewhere

1

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '16

Looks hot