Failure to stop an exploding man

[vilakins]

If the zombies don't get you, Radioactive Man will. Here are photos of a disturbing cloud formation taken on the way home earlier this week.


A strange cloud formation that looked lit from within (a trick of the sun setting behind me)


What it looked like when I was almost home. Eep! They just took out Eastern Beaches! Actually, the top of the cloud was just high enough to catch the setting sun, but it was an unnerving sight when you've been watching Heroes.


Looking west towards our house I could see a much prettier and more reassuring scene.

Comments

[kerravonsen]

Pretty!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

We live on a hill and often go upstairs (because of the trees) to watch nice sunsets. :-)

We get nice sunsets here too ...

[quarryquest.livejournal.com]

(I took this out of the window of my flat)

(http://photobucket.com)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

You do indeed. :-)

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Great photos!

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

PS: Would you mind if I posted the link to the newsgroup uk.sci.weather ? I'm sure there are some people there who would like to see them.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Sure, go ahead!

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

So tell me, what causes that sort of weird formation?

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

The middle one, you mean? It's basically a cumulus cloud, I think, though an unusually spectacular one, perhaps because of the angle of the sun and the angle that it's being viewed from. For whstever reason, there must have been some strongly heated air there that was therefore rising rapidly, cooling and its moisture condensing into clouds.

But I'm no expert.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Greg thinks the sun hitting the top caused part of it to heat and rise; it was pretty fast.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Oh and I think at least part of those clouds may have been over the sea.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

That figures. You're in your winter now, so the sea may well have been warmer than the land, thus encouraging convection.

[spacefall.livejournal.com]

Pretty!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

We get lots of nice sunsets but that's the first pseudo nuke I've seen.

[san-valentine.livejournal.com]

Those are some lovely photos, though the middle one in particular is slightly freaky.

Clouds here ATM are just grey and wet. Very wet.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

The middle one was very freaky! I took another photo later where the glowing white bit was bigger but starting to lose its shape.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

Apartfrom a nuke the only thing I've seen that is remotely similar is what you get when a tornado is thinking of happening. It looks like a classic "storm cell"

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Well, nothing happened! We do get tornadoes here though which is why I took the first photo. I predicted a tornado once when the sky looked yellowish and one hit a western suburb about an hour later.

[jomacmouse.livejournal.com]

Well, nothing happened!

When exactly did you take that photo? It may have happened on the other side of the Tasman. (There were storm war story comparisons before my law exam started today.)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Sunset one day this week. I didn't see any butterflies causing chaos either. ;-)

That's a gorgeous and subtle icon.

[jomacmouse.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Apart from being my only rain icon, it's been a bit like that this week - colours haven't been quite so dull in daytime, even while it continued to rain. The BoM has been handing out more severe warnings for the region for this weekend, sadly...

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

Yikes! And, whatever the cause, not the sort of thing that you really want to see ahead of you...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It isn't! Especially when you've been watching 'Heroes' and scenes of New York exploding. :-P

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

They did look a bit nuclear-cloudish, didn't they? I know I've seen a few menacing clouds...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I start to worry when they're yellow or other unnatural colours. :-P