While these clouds tend to remain stagnant and may give the impression that there is very little wind, remember that this is not the case!

 

As air moves up over the mountain, “new” cloud is constantly forming as air rises, cools, and condenses, but as the air moves down the leeward side, cloud is continuously evaporating as air descends and warms.

 

I was delighted to get to see this interesting type of cloud on Tuesday, but this cap cloud was not the only lenticular cloud that I could see.

 

First, let’s think about the effect that an obstacle has on airflow.

 

Think of a large rock in the middle of a river. There is bound to be some notable disturbances as the water flows around the rock. There will likely be some ripples in the water downstream from the rock, and probably some turbulent eddies behind the rock as well.

 

Mountains have similar effects on airflow. This is fluid dynamics, folks!

 

The initial disturbance provided by the mountain often causes air to flow in a wavelike manner on the leeward side of the mountain. These waves can often cause clouds to form in a similar vain to the cap clouds that I described earlier. They will still have the same lenticular shape, but they won’t necessarily be situated over any specific mountain. These are called Lee Wave Clouds.