Weather

Strange clouds see Puget sound, along with my latest Podcast/forecast


Over the course of yesterday, I received several emails and pictures of a strange cloud feature seen between around 4pm and 5:30pm on Thursday. I will show you.

Theresa Verway took this photo from Shilshoe Beach in Seattle around 4:12pm

Steve Moseley took this photo in N. Seattle around 5:18 pm


And here are two views from the Seattle PanoCan, one around 4pm and the other around 5:30pm. Note the nearby blue sky….that will matter.




So what caused these strange clouds?

To get some insight, let’s take a look at the high resolution satellite imagery ….. will provide some key hints!

This is a high resolution display image at 4:30pm. To a trained meteorologist, the image hints at a high amplitude mountain wave forced by the Olympics.


Let me explain using the highlighted version of the image below. On Thursday, there were strong southwesterly winds (from the southwest) near the Olympics – see red arrows. As the air rose to the west of the Olympics, the clouds (and precipitation) intensified.

But as the air moves down to the northeast of the Games, it descends, drying the air and creating a clear zone (see blue arrow).

The movement of air up and through the Olympics has established a mountain wave pattern and the air then rises rapidly downstream, creating a dramatic region of cloud (blue arrow).


This high amplitude mountain wave model can be simulated using our best prediction models, such as the UW WRF model system. In fact, our model predicted this interesting cloud (see below).


Such high resolution mountain wave clouds can have very complex structures in three dimensions, and that was certainly the case on Thursday afternoon. So complex that some people mistake these clouds for UFOs – unidentified flying objects.


My podcast today will talk about the exciting forecast for this week – lots of weather action and mountain snow ahead!.

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