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Rare “noctilucent” clouds appear over the SF Bay Area
- DueDilligence 4y ago"they will first arrive us in form of invisible clouds" ~Aldous Huxley
- leoh 4y agoBeautiful, but source? https://www.google.com/search?q=%22they+will+first+arrive+us+in+form+of+invisible+clouds%22&ie=UTF-8 https://www.google.com/search?q=%22they+will+first+arrive+us...
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- QuercusMax 4y agoI can't find anything in Google Books either. I'm assuming it should be "arrive as", but this is either a translation of something or a misattribution.
- rubatuga 4y agoSeems silly, you could probably find another specific set of cloud criterion and label it rarest clouds in the world.
- sandworm101 4y agoAt best, these are rare in the context of SF norms. They are also more common than described, just that normally they go unobserved. We only really notice them at dawn when they get hit by sunlight early due to altitude.
- mannykannot 4y agoThe category is not an arbitrary one, primarily because they are higher than other weather phenomena, being in the mesosphere. In fact, there is a hypothesis that they did not occur (or perhaps only occasionally even by the standard of their current rarity, such as after large volcanic explosions) until the industrial revolution.
- mihaic 4y agoI've been often surprised at how many "cloud nerds" are in the US, that know so many of the Latin classification terms for different cloud formations. In Europe it seems to be a much more niched thing, and I've never heard anyone discuss clouds at this level. Is it a subject for which importance is placed in school?
- Cthulhu_ 4y agoWouldn't say importance, but I do recall a class where some of the different types of clouds and weather patterns were mentioned. Well, it was either class or a Discovery Channel program, back when they still did educational things. These days it's probably curious youtubers mentioning these things. I probably underestimate how educational youtube and co are. Mind you, it's superficial knowledge at best, and with the rapid fire distractions going on, it'll be in the one ear and out the other.
- RicoElectrico 4y agoI'd guess because they have tornadoes and cyclones in the USA? Also, big federal agencies in USA (like NASA) have a sizable education/outreach budget. NOAA would be no exception, a quick search returns $34M.
- anikom15 4y agoIt’s more because of America’s unique farming legacy.
- LastNevadan 4y agoI grew up in the United States. I have a vivid memory of learning the words for clouds (e.g., cumulus, stratus, cirrus, etc) at the age of six in the first grade. We didn't need to able to spell them, but we had to be able to identify them by matching pictures of the clouds with the words.
- Semaphor 4y agoGerman, I somewhat remember that as well from primary school 30 years ago. Not sure about the exact details, though.
- darrenf 4y agoFeels an apposite thread in which to share a link to the Cloud Appreciation Society: https://cloudappreciationsociety.org/ https://cloudappreciationsociety.org/ (my copy of The Cloudspotter's Guide, their first publication - written by one of the society's founders - is in the bookshelf next to me as I type)
- daneel_w 4y agoI caught such on camera about 10-12 years ago in southern Sweden. Though curious enough for me to go get my camera, at the time they didn't strike me as rare as I had seen them form before.
- sandos 4y agoI have the same feeling that these are not very uncommon. My guess is, as I'm also from Sweden, is that the period of time the sun is in the right position for this is much longer at these latitudes. I'm certain Iv'e seen clouds like these many times, at least 5 times if not more.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- null_object 4y ago> I have the same feeling that these are not very uncommon The article explicitly states the rarity is at the given latitude: “Such clouds are very rare at this latitude and also in winter…” Naturally they chose to over-emphasize the rarity aspect in the headline, otherwise no-one would bother clicking.
- Sharlin 4y agoThey're not especially rare at these latitudes (I live in southern Finland, ~61°N). You see them fairly frequently on summer nights, rocket launches or not. But what is interesting that nobody seems to have written anything about them until the 20th century, which could indicate that suitable condensation nuclei did not exist in the upper atmosphere before humans started emitting them.
- 2000UltraDeluxe 4y agoConsidering how common they're in southern Finland, I'd say you'd only need to get a bit north of Stockholm/Göteborg to see them fairly regularily.
- FollowingTheDao 4y agoCan we call them "rare" or even "clouds" if they were from a rocket launch?
- xnx 4y agoI think the Space X rockets regularly produce these when they are launched at twilight.
- Starwatcher2001 4y agoThis is one of my favourite sites on noctilucent clouds: http://www.nightskyhunter.com/Noctilucent%20Clouds.html http://www.nightskyhunter.com/Noctilucent%20Clouds.html It describes what they are, how they differ from normal clouds, and how to recognise them.
- sbuttgereit 4y agoI live in SF and didn't see the clouds that morning... but did see the rocket launch. Even though it's relatively tiny in the sky being over 200 miles away, still very cool. I was able to see the initial boost phase (surprisingly clearly), the stage separation, the second stage continuing on its way and some of the booster maneuvering for landing... just illuminated dots on the sky with some faintly visible exhaust plume. The reported "clouds" probably didn't really become visible until later, well after I went back inside.
- H8crilA 4y agoThese clouds are only visible before sunset or after sunrise. They're very weak and make themselves visible when the surface is in the shadow, but they are not thanks to their impressive an highly unusual altitude (they're well well above all weather).
- mrexroad 4y agoFYI, you have a typo. It should be “Before sunrise or after sunset”
- Galaxeblaffer 4y agoOn the right latitudes 60+ these can be seen each year in the months around summer solstice during the short nights. Here's a timelapse over 2 hours if you want to see how some types of them move through the sky https://imgur.com/gallery/PlyifNr https://imgur.com/gallery/PlyifNr
- aaomidi 4y agoCool coincidence this happening right before the 6.something earthquake.
- swayvil 4y agoRare is the new normal. Every day it's record hot, cold, wet, dry, wind... That's how it is where I am (southern IL). The weather has become crazy.
- uwagar 4y agothey've botched spraying the chems tbh.
- renewiltord 4y agoYou can see these in LA after the SpaceX launches. Quite cool!
- mjhay 4y agoNoctilucent clouds are the only natural-occuring ice on the planet that isn't hexagonal, instead having mostly cubic crystals, which are stable in the low temp/low pressure environment. Cubic ice is very similar to hexagonal, unlike some of the more exotic ices that exist in high pressure and/or high temp environments in places like Europa's mantle.
- anshumankmr 4y agoI could swear I have seen clouds like those a million times. However, it is interesting to know clouds could be rare.
- yummybear 4y agoI see them at least once or twice a year. Mammatus on the other hand...
- taylorius 4y agoWould love to see a proper, fully fledged Mammatus. Also a decent Asperatus.
- mirekrusin 4y agoIf you’d see them every day, once a day, you’d have to be 2739 years old.
- tmoravec 4y agoI suspect they could mean they are rare in SF Bay or USA. Noctilucent clouds are not that uncommon in higher latitudes.
- yardie 4y agoUnless you live near the Arctic Circle these are quite rare to see. I thought I saw something similar from sunny Florida and it turned out to be regular cirrus clouds getting lit up by the sun. Also, a 2D picture doesn't give you the depth information to see that these are really, really far away. Like I've seen meteor showers and have no doubt the altitude they are at. These cloud formations are about that height (50-100km)
- pigtailgirl 4y ago—- are you saying they’re not rare - or you didn’t see them? - don’t understand this comment—-
- ithkuil 4y ago