These are Standing Lenticular clouds that were photographed northeast of St. George...caused by rising and falling air over mountains. Another more descriptive and accurate terminology is, wave clouds (see my attached photo). As the air is pushed up, it condenses into layers of clouds, downwind of the mountains. Unless there is a storm system moving through the area, it can be somewhat dry above the mountains. The lifting air produces this layering effect (like a lens) that stack on top of each other. Some layers are thicker, some are thinner, some are bigger and some are smaller...all dependent on how moist the air is; going up higher and higher above, and downwind, of the mountains. This particular Standing Lenticular cloud is fairly rare for Southern Utah. It is impressive because of how deep it is, and how high off the ground it formed. Ive seen clouds like this over volcanoes along the Pacific Coast, especially over Mt. Shasta in Northern California. Ive seen a lot of photos of other Volcanoes with Standing Lenticular clouds. Mt. Fiji in Japan is another good example. What makes this unusual, is that is seems to have developed over Zion N.P. and Cedar Breaks. Usually a cloud forming in this area would be longer and not so symmetric (like this one is).
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 05:20:06 +0000
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