I saw these lenticular clouds over Mt Rainier from Olympia. The mountain wasn’t visible, but I was familiar with where it was and knew that these clouds typically form just as a frontal system is coming in … being rainy weather. And the next day it was raining. The lower clouds have a rounded form that is quite interesting in itself. And lenticular clouds are fairly common over Mt Rainier, but usually only a single lens. This was unusual.
Virga is rain that evaporates before hitting the ground. It’s also called ‘dry storm’. This one I saw in Olympia, Washington and was backlit by the sunset.
I like stormy weather (as long as there’s no damage and as long as I’m inside … or at least dry). These two images are of frontal systems coming in and both brought high winds … and both blew over and there wasn’t any damage. And both provided a good photo op.
I was coming out of an appointment recently and noticed the clouds overhead were mammatus. I have seen mammatus before, but from a distance, not from directly beneath. Good thing I had my cell phone with me.
Another image from near the Deer Park Campground in Olympic National Park. This shows the clouds in the valleys looking south into the center of the park. Somewhere in there is the Graywolf River valley and the valleys of Cameron Creek and Grand Creek. When you see weather like this in the Olympics, enjoy the sun while you can. Once the sun rises high enough to warm the valley air, the cloud layer rises. Then you have the tops of the cloud layer joining you and covering you. See below.
