photo #9315840

Though we tend to describe the atmosphere at a particular time and place as being stable (leading to calm weather) or unstable (more likely to produce storms), it can sometimes be both. That was the case when Eliza Lee (Cloud Appreciation Society Member 66,333) looked up from Popham Beach, Seguin Island, Maine, US to see this combination of cloud formations.In the middle of the sky is the distinctive form of Stratocumulus lenticularis duplicatus, the cloud that looks like a stack of smooth discs. This is a low-level formation associated with stable air rising and dipping downwind of raised ground, like hills. While these airflows may have been stable, Eliza’s sky also included clouds associated with unstable air, likely at different levels.A distant shower with a higher base is visible off to the far left, where a towering storm cloud is releasing a localised downpour. To the right, the arched form of a volutus cloud appears. This is a low roll of cloud below the storm that can advance ahead of it, formed by the outflow of cool air beneath rain showers.Eliza said there were warnings of storms and tornadoes in the vicinity. The sky, it seems, is big enough to be calm and wild in the same breath.