A giant ‘UFO’ cloud was spotted in Bangor and Llandudno on Tuesday evening, 9 March.
Photos of the rare cloud formation were posted on Twitter by BBC Wales Weatherman Derek Brockway after being spotted by BBC Weather watchers.
The Lenticular cloud has a saucer or UFO shape and they usually appear in mountainous areas.
The clouds have often been mistaken for UFOs; as many of these clouds have the shape of a ‘flying saucer’, with a characteristic ‘lens’ or smooth ‘saucer-like’ shape. Because lenticular clouds generally do not form over low-lying or flat terrain, many people may have never seen one before and don’t know that they can exist.
Lenticular clouds are very interesting because they do not move. They are constantly reformed over the same region, resulting in people often reporting them as UFOs.
Pilots of powered aircraft tend to avoid flying near Lenticular clouds because of the turbulence that accompany them.
Formation and Appearance
As air travels along the surface of the Earth, obstructions are often encountered. These include both natural features of the Earth, such as mountains or hills, and artificial structures, such as buildings and other structures. These disrupt the flow of air into “eddies”, or areas of turbulence influenced by these obstructions.
When moist, stable air flows over a larger eddy, such as those caused by mountains, a series of large-scale standing waves form on the leeward side of the mountain. If the temperature at the crest of the wave drops below the local dew point, moisture in the air may condense to form lenticular clouds. Under certain conditions, long strings of lenticular clouds may form near the crest of each successive wave, creating a formation known as a “wave cloud”. These wave systems can produce large updrafts, occasionally enough for water vapour to condense and produce precipitation.
Photos: Lenticular cloud over Bangor and Llandudno
