Cloud identification?

[Melanie Kern-Favilla]

Hi gang...

I took this photo in '07 in Great Falls, Montana, (in the Flying J parking lot). Can someone please tell me if these odd clouds have a name?

Thanks...

melanie

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

Here is a guess.
"Roll Clouds"?

 

[Sam Kennedy]

To me the just look like oddly shaped cumulus.

 

[Melanie Kern-Favilla]

Here is a guess.
"Roll Clouds"?

Lol, I can't tell if this is dripping with sarcasm or if it is just a real guess. Based on your profile photo, I know you're familiar with sarcasm.

 

[rdale]

Looks like maybe mountain wave clouds? How close were you to the Rockies?

 

[Melanie Kern-Favilla]

Looks like maybe mountain wave clouds? How close were you to the Rockies?

Hi -

We were in Great Falls, MT and it appears to be pretty close to the mountains...

Any further info on how these clouds form? Thanks!

 

[Laura Duchesne]

To me, they appear to be altocumulus lenticularis, especially if you mention this was near a mountainous region. They come in all shapes and sizes.

 

[Melanie Kern-Favilla]

Thanks so much, Laura. I did a quick google image search for altocumulus lenticularis and several photos came up that look like these. thanks again; Mystery solved!

 

[Rob Sermon]

Hey, Melanie! I checked out your shots, WOW! I've got a Nikon D60, fortunately with a PHD setting. I will learn it. Your picture from Great Falls, MT has altocumulus written all over it. It doesn't have a lenticular flavor. Flying a piston powered airplane in the 10K to 16K feet range, I would be very cautious flying in the clouds pictured, more so as I approached the mountain range. I read your photo as a mountain wave.

 

[Laura Duchesne]

You're welcome, Melanie. I noticed that the cloud on the left further away looks quite lenticular. It's a great image, by the way!

 

[Aaron Gerhardt]

My old stomping grounds, lived at Malmstrom AFB for 5 years, just on the east side of Great Falls. A friend of mine actually worked at that Flying J.

The Big Belt Mountains are definitely in on that cloud formation there.

 

[Melanie Kern-Favilla]

Thanks everyone for all of the nice comments - private and public - on my photos. And thanks for all of the great info.

Yeah, we were in that Flying J parking lot for hours, trying to repair a busted fuel line.

Fun.

Mel

 

[Jason Foster]

Not the form I'm familiar with

To me, they appear to be altocumulus lenticularis, especially if you mention this was near a mountainous region. They come in all shapes and sizes.

I'm a little confused...I thought lenticularis was pretty much in the shape of a round or elliptical lens shape. They also tended to be very striated somewhat like a meso can become. Perhaps someone can point me to where it shows lenticular formations that look like Melanie's, because I might have had that all wrong.

Here is an example I took from a google search:

 

[Dann Cianca]

That type of mountain wave (orographic) cloud is very common along the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana, especially with mid to upper level winds out of the west-southwest.

 

[Tom Dulong]

Indeed a nice picture, Melanie.

Based on the location (downwind of mountainous terrain) and the apparent absence of deep convection, these are likely rotor clouds. The rotor cloud is often associated with mountain lee waves. Conversely, roll clouds are typically associated with strong convective gust fronts (e.g., those in advance of a squall line or other mesoscale convective system).

Here is the definition of a rotor cloud per the American Meteorological Society dictionary:

http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=rotor-cloud1

Rotor clouds are fairly often seen just east of the Colorado Front Range during the winter and transition months. I imagine they also occur in similar areas to the north.