CORRECTED: Clouds

Cloud patterns
Photo by Carl Dinse

I published Jan Hansen's photo of clouds in yesterday's edition - and practically everything in the article was wrong. Not my finest hour.

So, setting the record straight: Carl Dinse, our WeatherWatcher, says that this is an altostratus cloud and says these are fairly normal when a front approaches.

"Sometimes they just produce these interesting patterns from waves in the atmosphere induced by the wind directions over the local terrain."

Carl's photo is from Richmond Beach Saltwater Park shortly before sunset on July 4th.

Cloudburst
Photo by Jan Hansen

Jan's photo looks like it was taken about the same time, from just a few blocks south in Innis Arden.

And the weather sites I mentioned? Skunk Bay Weather really is quite a wonderful site. It's run by Greg Johnson, who lives in Hansville on the very northern tip of the Kitsap Peninsula. He sets up his cameras to run all night, then publishes the images in a time lapse video.

He is reported to very good friends with Cliff Mass, who publishes a weather and climate blog. Cliff is, according to Wikipedia:

"...a professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington. His research focuses on numerical weather modeling and prediction, the role of topography in the evolution of weather systems, and on the weather of the Pacific Northwest. He is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society and the President of the Puget Sound chapter.

"His book The Weather of the Pacific Northwest is one of the best-selling titles from the University of Washington Press.[1] He maintains a popular weather blog, hosts a weekly public radio show, and gives frequent public lectures on topics ranging from Washington State weather history to the impact of climate change on global and regional weather patterns."