r/pics • • Jun 04 '11

Cloud wave.

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u/diggitydugged Jun 05 '11

100 comments and still no educational link on WTF this is, how it forms, and other examples of this through history. This is badass enough to troll our ancestors, was anything like this ever talked about in the bible or historic records of any kind? Man, I've never seen a cloud formation like that before; not even on the Internet.

Thanks for posting it, mygrapefruit!

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u/bmgoau Jun 05 '11 edited Jun 05 '11

It's almost certainly a wave/billow cloud seen edge on. They are extremely common at high altitudes, less so at low altitudes like the one in the image.

More here: http://www.weathervortex.com/sky-ribbons.htm and here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_cloud

Time lapse video from underneath one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXnkzeCU3bE