Tag: altocumulus standing lenticularis

Cloud photographs–May 2025

On a recent trip between northern Arizona and Colorado I had the chance to photograph several interesting clouds and a rainbow.

Rain showers over Arches National Park with the La Sal Mountains in the distance.
Rain showers over Arches National Park with the La Sal Mountains in the distance.
Rain showers over Arches National Park with the La Sal Mountains in the distance.
Rain showers over Arches National Park with the La Sal Mountains in the distance.

Early in the trip we visited Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. Our timing was good to catch late afternoon light and the setting sun over the beautiful red rock of the park. Fortunately, a few showers were well positioned to catch the light and create an amazing scene. Over a period of about one-half hour the light went from flat to beautiful to shadow–then back to amazing. And then the Sun set and it was over.

Wave cloud (altocumulus standing lenticularis, ACSL) over the Sangre de Cristo mountains in south-central Colorado.
Wave cloud (altocumulus standing lenticularis, ACSL) over the Sangre de Cristo mountains in south-central Colorado.
Even smaller wave are evident on the larger wave cloud.
Even smaller wave are evident on the larger wave cloud.
Another view of the wave cloud over the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in south-central Colorado.
Another view of the wave cloud over the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in south-central Colorado.

On the return trip we saw a very nice wave cloud (altocumulus standing lenticularis or ACSL) over the mountain of southern Colorado. It remained in place long enough for us to get to the San Luis Valley and the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in south-central Colorado. The juxtaposition of the mountain range and wave cloud made a nice composition. After a few minutes at this location, we continue on our journey and then stopped again to look back at the wave cloud now located to our northeast.

Spray from Treasure Falls near Wolf Creek Pass produces a small rainbow.
Spray from Treasure Falls near Wolf Creek Pass produces a small rainbow.
Cascading water from Treasure Falls near Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado.
Cascading water from Treasure Falls near Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado.

Spray from Treasure falls produces a rainbow.

Finally, as we descended the west side of Wolf Creek Pass we stopped at Treasure Falls. After a short hike we arrived at the falls. The Sun was now low enough in the west to create a rainbow in the spray from the falls. Pretty nice!

More Wave Clouds

A few days ago there was a great example of trapped lee waves (also known as trapped mountain waves). These waves occur when the wind speed increases rapidly with height and the atmospheric stability decreases above a mountain-top or ridge-top stable layer. This results in a series of lee waves (and clouds) downstream of the mountain. This wind and stability situation is fairly common—especially in the winter.

Panoramic image of Altocumulus Standing Lenticular (ASCL) just before sunset.
Panoramic image of Altocumulus Standing Lenticular (ASCL) just before sunset.
Cigar-shaped lee wave clouds.
Cigar-shaped lee wave clouds.
Another example of lee wave clouds.
Another example of lee wave clouds.
GOES-16 visible satellite imagery shows numerous wave clouds across northern Arizona
GOES-16 visible satellite imagery shows numerous wave clouds across northern Arizona

Towards sunset some higher-level Altocumulus Standing Lenticular (ACSL) clouds became more prominent and as the sun set became quite colorful. The image at the top of this post was taken a few minutes before sunset and is a panorama composed of five individual images taken with an ultra-wide 16 mm lens.

Wave Clouds Over the San Francisco Peaks

A few weeks ago I captured these images of wave clouds over the San Francisco Peaks. At first, there was a “short stack” of lenticular clouds, specifically Altocumulus Standing Lenticularis (ACSL).

Wave clouds over the San Francisco Peaks.
Wave clouds over the San Francisco Peaks.

I took several photographs looking toward the peaks from the Bonito Park area near the west entrance of Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. I alternated between wide-angle shots showing the snow-covered flats and zoomed-in images of the stack of clouds. After a few minutes, I was ready to leave.

Wide-angle view of wave clouds over the San Francisco Peaks.
Wide-angle view of wave clouds over the San Francisco Peaks.
Zoomed-in crop showing structure of the wispy filaments with ACSL above.
Zoomed-in crop showing structure of the wispy filaments with ACSL above.

But before I did leave, new clouds began to form beneath the stack of ACSL. These clouds were quite different and appeared as long, wispy filaments or rope-like clouds. Again, I took photographs ranging from wide-angle shots to zoomed-in shots. After about 8–10 minutes the delicate filaments began to take on more of an ACSL shape similar to the already-present ACSL above.

I was intrigued by the shapes of these clouds so I posted a comment with photographs to a weather discussion group with many atmospheric scientists far more aware of the dynamics and details of wave clouds than I. It turned into a fascinating discussion with links to journal articles, modeling studies and, inevitably, YouTube.

I do not think we reached a consensus on the dynamics and evolution of these cloud filaments but all agreed it was a worthwhile discussion.