photo #5092376

Pilot Patrick Roth (Cloud Appreciation Society Member 60,838) was warned to expect severe turbulence over southern Iowa, US as he flew his small aircraft to Des Moines. When he saw this formation of long rows of Stratocumulus volutus clouds, he thought there might indeed be some rough flying ahead. These clouds indicate rising and dipping waves travelling through the air. Despite expecting worse, Patrick only encountered light turbulence. It looks to us as if he was flying down the length of the rolls of cloud, which perhaps was a reason for the less-than-rough ride. Air rises along one side of these long lines of cloud and sinks along the other side. Turbulence is more likely to arise, therefore, if you fly across the cloud ridges. Patrick appears to have flown down the lengths of these atmospheric waves, like a surfer riding waves on the ocean. Maybe this gave him a fairly smooth ride? What’s for certain is that the ride involved some memorable cloudspotting.