Mysteries, Chemtrails, Aerosols :: Mysterious NZ

LukeZen · Joined: 15 Jan 2007 Posts: 34 Location: Wellington, NZ

Here's the deal: I wake up this morning and make my way to have a shower, around about 7, open the window and there's this long chemtrail like cloud which has obviously spread out a bit over perhaps an hour or so.

What struck me was that it was literally peppered with holes, really clean and defined circle holes. Pink cloud, blue sky holes - maybe about 10 of them.

So I rushed off to find my girlfriend's digi camera (a point-and-click job) and tried to get some pics, the batteries were in the charger so that ate up a bit more time. I managed to snap off a couple of pics but by then they had eaten into the cloud a lot! So they're not as defined as what I saw minutes earlier.

Within 5 minutes the whole cloud was gone.

I'll try and post the pics after work this afternoon.

Azimuth · Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Posts: 318

Hi LukeZen,

Was the formation you observed like the one pictured below? If so, it was probably a Cirrocumulus stratiformis lacunosus or Altocumulus stratiformis lacunosus cloud formation. I saw one of the above up here (Northland) last week, a very pretty and not all too common sight.

Image linked from:
http://www.interklasa.pl/chmury/wolken/wo12629.htm

For more info on lacunosus clouds see the following link:
http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=lacunosus1

I hope this helps

Cheers
Azimuth

LukeZen · Joined: 15 Jan 2007 Posts: 34 Location: Wellington, NZ

Well I'll be damned, it did look a lot like those.
My photos sure didn't turn out as nice though - too dark.

It did look unusual to me, that is I don't recall really having seen one like it before. They're sure something different though, that's for sure.

Thanks for the links too 8)

Azimuth · Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Posts: 318

Hi LukeZen,

Lacunosus are a rather uncommon/rare variety of some sub species of cirrocumulus, altocumulus and stratocumulus cloud types.

Regards
Azimuth

Azimuth · Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Posts: 318

Here is another very fine example, this time in an altocumulus layer at sunset.

Linked from the Cloud Appreciation Society, here:
http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/

Regards
Azimuth

LukeZen · Joined: 15 Jan 2007 Posts: 34 Location: Wellington, NZ

That pic with the pink sky is amazing... truly beautiful and pretty much exactly like the cloud I saw (which was somewhat smaller). Amazing sky above us.

Speaking of which I hired out The Cosmic Pulse of Life by Trevor James Constable from the library here... blown my mind. But that belongs in another topic entirely :wink:

Cheers for that Azimuth