The Lenticular clouds are unusual formations in the sky that seem straight out of a JRR Tolkien story or a science fiction one. They are often confused with eyes in the sky, although it has also been said that they look like flying saucers. But the truth is that these are natural formations that have a clear meteorological explanation.
Without a doubt, clouds are phenomena that capture anyone’s curiosity, with their spongy shapes that do not always appear in the same way, these gas clusters are classified depending on their morphology. There are from , through and to But there is also a type of clouds that adopt circular shapes, as if it were an eye, these are called lenticular clouds and they are not so common, special conditions are required so that we can see them in the celestial vault.
What are lenticular clouds?
Lenticular clouds are one of the many types of clouds that form in the sky, They are characterized by having a convergent lens or disk shape and are formed in the part of the so-called troposphere.which extends up to 10 kilometers above the earth’s surface.
As air travels through the atmosphere, it encounters different obstacles that change the direction of its travel and cause different temperatures of the suspended gas to interfere. In the case of lenticular clouds, hills are essential, in addition to atmospheric pressures, ambient humidity and ideal temperatures.
How are lenticular clouds formed?
As we have said, special conditions are required for lenticular clouds to appear and above all, a mountain or hill that generates changes in the direction of the wind.
The wind flow slides across the surface of the earth and when it meets the mountain, it ascends relatively quickly up its slope. Then On the way up it encounters a thermal inversion in the atmosphere. This atmospheric phenomenon occurs when the air temperature, instead of decreasing as it rises in height, increases more and more.
It is at that moment when what meteorologists know as Foëhn effect. Mountains are mechanical obstacles to air flow, so when the air travels in an upward direction and with the presence of a thermal inversion, they also Turbulences are formed that are called ‘mechanical turbulences’. The latter are basically mechanical turbulences of cold air, which settle on a warmer atmosphere.
Later, when the air flow reaches the top and falls again, the crest of the wave or mechanical turbulence, encounters enough moisture to generate condensation that finally gives way to the formation of lenticular clouds. Let us remember that the atmosphere is an amazing ecosystem of different types of humidity and winds that depend on height, and that come together to weave the clouds that we observe in the sky.
These types of clouds have sparked hundreds of false alerts of UFO sightings due to their flying disc shape in the sky. Furthermore, when the sun is positioned above the horizon and hits the cloud directly, these are undoubtedly extraordinary objects that incite imagination and speculation, but the truth is that the meteorological explanation behind lenticular clouds is equally interesting. . Tell us what other cloud oddities you know of.