Thursday, December 22, 2011

a nephological KNOCKOUT !!.... 2011-12-22

altocumulus lenticularis... in climatic magnificence!!... (c) 2011

A nephological display of utter grandure this lunchtime over our part of West Yorkshire on this the shortest day of the year.... unavoidably obvious and jaw dropping to those outside and even inside, just like us trapped in Bradford city centre! see image above over the Bradford cityscape.... some even more dramatic snaps from the open outlook at Oxenhope to follow when electronic link to the watchpoint team restored. Lenticularis, a common cloud type over the Pennines to anyone out in the hills but not at all common here in such massive proportion and perfect formation.... The image above shows just a small part of a teriffic lenticularis convoy extending visually north but this was most likely only a small fraction of what was happening in the wider sky.... cars and wagons were pulling up to watch and folks were gawping into the sky, even those that had never given clouds a second look were fixated by this tremendous alien craft. Many thanks to Karen / Diane and their teams for initially drawing it to my attention.

Dave

PS....2011-12-24
following the interest on here, still awaiting HC's Oxenhope snaps delayed by email failure but here following some "googleing" are links to images from taken other parts of W Yorks....

BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-16302606

Paul Hudsons Weather and Climate Blog
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulhudson/2011/12/fabulous-display-of-lenticular.shtml

Adam Getliff....(Above Bradford today) these are awesome!
http://homepage.mac.com/adamget/Lenticular%20Clouds/

ENJOY... but following on.....

Here are Howards Oxenhope Shots.... absolutely AWESOME.......

 Whole altocumulus lenticularis in context with landscape.... (c) Howard Creber 2011
 Detail with snaps joined.... double click to get this one full screen!.... (c) Howard Creber 2011
 Detail in distance looking North.... (c) Howard Creber 2011
Final image!..... (c) Howard Creber 2011

and finally Lesters image to add to ours, taken from his kitchen window in Otley in Wharfedale and on his I phone shows an entirely different perspective..... fantastic stuff Lester....
altocumulus lenticularis... overhead.... (c) Lester Ward 2011
Dave