photo #6741859

Island in the Sky is a mesa in the northern part of the Canyonlands National Park in Moab, Utah, US. This name is derived from the elevation’s sheer walls, which can make visitors feel as though they are standing on a landmass that’s floating a thousand feet above the ground. Kaela Saenz Oriti (Member 58,790) found that the mesa provides a good vantage point for cloudspotting, to observe the more ephemeral cloud islands in the sky as they drift overhead. Cumulus and Stratocumulus clouds in the foreground were hiding a Cumulonimbus storm cloud gathering beyond. Look closely, and you can just see the incus, the spreading canopy, at the top of the building thunderstorm. ‘Approximately 20 minutes later,’ Kaela told us, this particular island in the sky ‘was hailing and snowing, with some intense thunder to boot.’