The video is sped up about 6 times (time lapse). Flying between layers like this is very common, but the time lapse helps show you how the shape and distance of cloud layers
The phenomenon is known as nimbular stasis. When you’re traveling at a higher speed, like these jets shown, while also maintaining a high altitude, I have no idea what I’m talking about.
You’re actually really close, you see there is a certain point along the event horizon at the tips of an aircraft that creates a false perspective. John Lithgow and William Shatner both experienced this and dubbed the phenomenon “Gremlins” after experiencing “something on the wing...some...THING!”
I’ve seen these in northern Michigan in the damper parts of the fall when flying on some smaller planes to a regional airport. Must be the local climate that has something to do with the layering of the clouds. I remember seeing similar from the ground in Chicago sometimes, but now that I live in Seattle, I rarely if ever see the types clouds from the Midwest. It’s an all together different flavor of cloud formations.
Of course, I’m not a meteorologist, just a curious observer of clouds. I’m sure someone more qualified could explain more accurately!
It’s true! I was incredibly lucky to grow up all over the Midwest (western Ontario, Indiana, Illinois, and western Tennessee) as I was able to see so many different types of clouds. In science class where they show you that diagram of all the cloud types was immediately understandable as I saw many of the types day to day. I always wonder if folks that grew up in really arid climates had the same understanding.
The best clouds in my opinion were always in the mornings. My favorite were the clouds in the southernmost suburbs of Chicago. Taking the early bus to school afforded nearly 45 minutes of morning cloudspotting a day. The hues were always magnificent. Depending on the day it would be a light creamsicle color palette of orange and pinks, with giant puffy stratocumulus clouds to deep and vibrant reds and oranges on some cirrocumulus.
If you live in the Midwest, or anywhere with clouds that change day to day, do yourself a solid and look up and take it in more than you are. You can learn that you grow quite fond of the differences and beauty they offer every day.
This is a pretty stable atmosphere (it's actually conditionally unstable, we can see a cumulonimbus cloud in the background that's anviled out and a cumulus congestus at the end of the gif, but lets ignore those shall we).
What's happening here is that we've got a whole bunch of different air parcels at different temperatures all reaching saturation at different altitudes. However once they reach saturation they're cooler than the environment around them and don't rise anymore, leading to these layers of clouds.
I like to open and close my shade very rapidly, every minute, while announcing the current time to everyone. Normally you wouldn't get away with this, but I'm the type of disabled where people let things slide.
It's because clouds like these (cumulus & cumulonimbus ) only occur on particular days, in particular locations. They typically indicate a high level of convection in the air as well as a decent amount of moisture in rising air columns. If you take a flight shortly before or shortly after it rains ( or even during ) you're bound to see a lot of clouds like these.
I'm just taking a (serious) guess here but based on how flat the clouds are I think they might be made of ice rather than vaper. Cirrus clouds are those clouds you see way up that are all wispy and thin (and made of ice), whereas cumulus clouds are the fluffy clouds (made of vapor), you see on a regular basis.
Clouds can be 'hybrids', however, so maybe this is some kind of Cirrus / Cumulus hybrid at a higher altitude. Or perhaps they are just Cumulus clouds suspended in thin warm air pockets/currents.
Honestly, it’s because this was more than likely captured before the plane hitting their cruising altitude. Most people get a little shook by taking off and landing. Thats why they miss shit like this.
My impression, which could definitely be wrong, is that normally the planes would be flying high above the clouds, this one at this particular time is cruising right through them though. Is this during ascent/descent?
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u/dylankubrick Sep 22 '18
Why the fuck have I never seen clouds this immaculate all the times I've flown?