View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Glenn Hughson in Lawrence, Kansas, captured this picture of a shelf cloud on August 31, 2021. He wrote: “I went to let the dog out yesterday morning, when I noticed this shelf cloud quickly approaching. There were several trees and houses blocking my view, so I grabbed my drone and sent it up in the air to get a better look. This thing looked … intimidating … from this view a few hundred feet above my house. It was coming in fast, though, and I didn’t want to lose the drone in the storm. So I snapped a few photos and then quickly landed before the gust front hit. Despite its somewhat scary appearance, this was not a severe storm. It just rained sideways for about 15 minutes before moving on.” Wow. Thank you, Glenn!
Shelf clouds, also referred to as arcus clouds, happen at the vanguard of thunderstorms. They announce the arrival of storms and, when mixed with cumulonimbus thunderheads, can seem like big alien motherships. Shelf clouds kind when the cooler air of a thunderstorm encounters heat, humid air and lifts it. As the shelf cloud passes over you, you’ll discover a drop in temperature, and winds choose up because the gust entrance strikes by means of. Rain follows quickly behind.
Shelf cloud picture gallery
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jim Saudade captured this early afternoon shelf cloud over Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, on June 28, 2020. He mentioned: “Shelf cloud quickly followed by pea sized hail and a deluge of rain.”View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Sarah Iler of Birch Run, Michigan, captured this picture on August 2, 2020, at 8:39 p.m. She wrote: “Thunderstorms all afternoon and then this shelf cloud formed in the evening. It was amazing.”View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jay Banfield caught this shelf cloud from Centerton, Indiana, at 11:56 a.m. on August 17, 2019. Jay described it as: “Well-defined shelf cloud ahead of a 15-20 degree temperature drop.”Shelf cloud photographed by Rita Addison at Osmond Beach, Florida, on June 3, 2018.A shelf cloud transferring over the Fire Island Inlet Bridge, on Long Island, New York, May 15, 2018, by James Trezza.Josh Blash caught this shelf cloud from Rye, New Hampshire, on July 23, 2016. Josh mentioned: “Everything got very still when I took this, just moments before the fury of the storm began.”Simon Toogood in Tasmania captured this spectacular shelf cloud in 2014. He mentioned: “Stormy weather – and shelf clouds like these – are common at this time of year.”
Bottom line: A shelf cloud, also referred to as an arcus cloud, varieties at the vanguard of thunderstorms and alerts that gusty winds are coming.
Claudia Crowley proofs and helps edit all EarthSky web site materials. She says working for EarthSky is probably the most thrilling job she”s had besides one different – which was enhancing space shuttle documentation at NASA JSC. After writing and enhancing manuals for Dell and different main firms, she moved to the technical assist aspect in the course of the wild early days of the Internet, and served as common supervisor at a small wi-fi ISP. Claudia is a space fanatic and fan of science.
