This is a great thread guys- learning heaps! Love the photos, just brilliant stuff!

Could someone explain to me about glaciation in clouds? What happens, what does it look like, and what type of clouds does it occur in?

Thanks

Stormygirl-newbie!

Welcome to the forum Stormygirl!

Glaciation occurs when condensed water vapour reaches freezing level. Generally clouds in the upper atmosphere reach their freezing level between 0°C and -40°C. This may seem odd, and I myself am unaware of the scientifics behind the latter half of the temperature range of the glaciation process. On the top of thunderstorms for instance, the anvil (shielded out cloud) is all composed of ice crystals, and perfectly resembles glaciation.

On rarer occurances, a process known as sublimation can occur, which is whereby water vapour (in its gas form) turns straight into solid water (ice - glaciation) without turning into liquid. I'm pretty sure this is all to do with collision of the water vapour intially, and how much condensation nuclei (dust, grits, pollution - particles for raindrops to sit on essentially) is present.

The latter process isn't all that important to recognise. Ice composed cloud tops can usually be identified through there crisp white tops and their rough vertical height gained.

Cloudmaster

Thanks Cloudmaster!

Still trying to get my head around heaps of stuff, but it is slowly coming together!!

A couple of other questions, and I asume this is the correct thread, What makes the clouds black, and others look blue? (I know green is hail...). Is it all to do with the way the sun reflects on the water vapour/particles, or is it the denseness (Is that a word :rolleyes: ) of the water vapour etc???

Just curious....Stormygirl.

It is to do with the density of the cloud. Sunlight can penetrate particular clouds to certain degrees. That's why the foreground of a thunderstorm is usually so black and threatening. The sun is usually on its backside, and the light just cannot break through the millions of tonnes of water vapour within the cloud.

'Greenage' in a storm can sometimes be an indication of hail. Someone else could give you a better explanation about that, but I believe it's just due to the refraction or reflection of light through certain densities of solid ice.

I thought so, but I had to check with the weather freaks and nerds!! I'm just a little ol' gazer :rolleyes:

Thanks for reply-loving this forum!!

Cloudy you are a gem mate! Great descriptions indeed!
What are your thoughts on this one? Thunderstorm inflow from the recent Murray Bridge deluges. Had slowly rotating scud around the base.

I know I've posted this particular one about a few times, but I love the structure exhibited here.
Cheers,
Tim
BTW great Lenticular (one of my favourite cloud types) and mamma guys. Not to mention the CB and pyro stuff too Dave. The variation in cloud structure and types is amazing.

Lovely pic there Tim.

Nice shots all, I have a few contributions to add as well:

Altocumulus:


Pileus capping:


Cumulus Congestus:


Cumulonimbus:


Shelf Cloud:


Gust Front:


Mesocyclone:


:cheers:
Michael

Dragging up an old Topic as I have a habbit of doing (Oh btw im glad to be a part of this forum!), would I be correct in saying that this is mammatus?

If it is then I have learnt something because of this thread!

One down, 100000 to go

Looks like it to me Shane, nice photo as well

heres one of my pics of mammatus;

its gotta be my faviourite cloud formation.

wow thanks guys for the information on mammatus clouds. I had always seen them and associated them with lots of hail and nasty thunder but I never knew what they were called or how they are formed.

Also, how do you add an image thats from your computer?

Thanks Tectrix, it appeared after some fairly heavy rain. At the time I had never thought about storm chasing but it looked freaky to me so I took a pic of it, I still think they look freaky but in a good way

Glad to see this topic back near the top. Now that im back at uni I can continue my little 'education package' from high level to low level and then some accessory clouds and other atmospheric phenomena. Keep checkin back here, I'll start off where I left off last

And yep, that is a weak form of mammatus.

TS

that would be mine from a couple of years ago, taken from my place at Loomberah

Gordon

Heres a nice double pileus taken from near Werrikimbe NP



there was a lot of rain from that, as you can see from the mud here:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~loomberah/Werrikimbe.htm

Gordon

Wonderful pics there guys, but may I request more information on any cloud such as what the cloud means in the way of contributing to severe weather or if it gives any hints of upcoming weather etc etc?

This caught my eye lastnite....it's a closer zoom of the Fools Funnel in Autumn Images....

Nice pics all. I have made up a page with the cloud types on it here . I am gonna do a small description of each of the clouds too.

:cheers:
Michael

Altocumulus. Slight floccus here. This type of cloud is referred to as a 'Mackeral Sky' in Europe. A sign of unsettled weather approaching.

Cirrus floccus