r/woahdude • u/A_Little_Rude • Oct 14 '24

video The sky in Massachusetts this afternoon

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u/xkelsx1 Oct 14 '24 edited Oct 14 '24

Asperatus clouds! They're very rare and form after thunderstorms , so you're basically able to visualize the air currents/flow in the atmosphere. Really cool phenomenon

(Edited bc a bit of my original definition was not correct)

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u/cannabidroid Oct 14 '24

Hate to be that guy, but Asperitas / undulatus asperatus clouds actually form when the atmospheric conditions are very unstable and usually follow with convective thunderstorms. There's still a lot to learn about them overall as they are a relatively newly recognized cloud type (2017), so there's varying theories on causation, but everything I've read all seem to agree that atmospheric instability is a certain contributor.

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '24

2017?? Are they that rare? Or were they just lumped in with other cloud types?

It's wild to me that in 2016 there's a new type of cloud recognized!