photo #5215493

While driving to a local hiking trail in Dundas, Ontario, Canada, Rebecca Graham (Member 50,354) spotted a sky full of Cirrocumulus clouds. The wavy cloud crests to the bottom left are Cirrocumulus lenticularis, a species formed by wind flowing in rising and dipping paths. Just to their right is a speckled patch of Cirrocumulus lacunosus, a variety taking its name from the Latin for ‘having holes’ that results from cool air sinking in pockets. Towards the top are some tiny cloudlets arranged in rows. Cirrocumulus floccus undulatus is the name for this formation, which likely formed in the shearing effect as airflows above and below the cloud differ markedly in speed or direction. It is a sky that was, in Rebecca’s words, ‘being painted by the wind.’