A frustrating week, were I was hoping to get to Scotland for some skiing/climbing, but the continuous rolling through of storms meant it just wasn't worth the drive. Seeing these beautiful nacreous clouds did provide a brief distraction from the rubbish weather.
Nacreous clouds, sometimes called mother-of-pearl clouds, are mostly visible within two hours after sunset or before dawn with vivid and slowly shifting iridescent colours.
They need the very frigid regions of the lower stratosphere some 15 - 25 km (9 -16 mile) high and well above tropospheric clouds. They are so bright after sunset and before dawn because at those heights they are still sunlit.
They are seen mostly during winter at high latitudes like Scandinavia, Iceland, Alaska and Northern Canada, and obviously occasionally further South like these in the UK.
 |
| Taken by Gordon Smith |
Nice! Someone's been doing some internet research!
ReplyDeleteGood facts and I'm going to take it that that's the kind of meteorological knowledge that Simon White carries around in his head.
ReplyDeleteAmazing what you find out from the internet!!
Delete