One Cloud to Cover Them All

2018-07-17 07:11:23.000 – Sarah Thunberg, Summit Intern

Every meteorologist has a favorite cloud type, for most people this has something to do with severe weather. I get it, supercells are really cool and exciting and give conditions where you can see really unique clouds like pileus or mammatus. These clouds are too rare and energetic for me. Give me a nice stratus deck any day and I’ll be happy, better yet, layered decks. There’s just something so comforting and peaceful about a smooth ocean of white. A stratus day is a good day. If I’m on the mountain I can watch the deck slowly drift over and around the peaks and change shape as it flows. Off the mountain I can sit at home and read a book or watch the rain fall on the windows and leaves. Either way, I can easily clear my mind and unwind.

 

I took the picture above back in June after the summit cleared out of the clouds from rain overnight. This stratocumulus deck was so detailed and had beautiful smooth streaks imbedded in the deck.

 

This sunset was one of the prettiest I’ve seen up here on the summit. The sky wasn’t terribly red, but there was such a pretty deck off to the east and the haze made the mountains various shades of indigo. It was framed to beautifully.

 

I took the two images above this week on Saturday morning before the summit went into the clouds. The first one shows the eastern expanse of a stratus deck to the south spilling over Wildcat. The second image was taken to the west showing the same deck looking out over the southern Presidentials.

Sarah Thunberg, Summit Intern