photo #8647595

Eric Lubershane (Member 65,435) was enjoying a rare reunion of family members from the East and West coast of the US near Glen Arbor, Michigan when he captured this gathering of cloudlets over Sleeping Bear Dune.The formation is known as Altocumulus (a mid-level cloud with a more solid appearance) stratiformis (one that covers most of the sky) perlucidus (with gaps between its cloudlets). It develops as a layer of warmer air below rises up through another layer of cooler air above, arranging itself into a regular pattern of convection cells. The mid-level Altocumulus clouds are great at producing such patterns, as they are low enough to be subject to the warmth of the land below and high enough not to be disturbed by the more chaotic airflows near the surface. This all-too-brief gathering of cloudlets will, like Eric’s family, soon have to disperse once again.