photo #6934741

Sushil Bajpai (Member 61,000) saw this bright orange Altocumulus lenticularis cloud above Kotagiri, Tamil Nadu, India. The town is near the Nilgiri Mountains, whose foothills have encouraged a heap of darkened Cumulus clouds to form on the near horizon. Sushil tells us that large Altocumulus lenticularis clouds like this can form on the back of monsoons. The air behind the monsoon weather must be stable enough to take on smooth rising-and-dipping patterns as it flows over the mountains. Still freighted with moisture, a stable airflow like this can form a huge lenticularis downwind of the mountain terrain as it cools at the highest point in its path. Sushil’s lenticularis was surrounded by shadowed patches of Stratocumulus clouds, like alien scout craft accompanying the mothership in to land.