Lenticular clouds forming east of MK

[TomK]

High winds at the summit of Mauna Kea appear to be creating some lenticular clouds tonight. Not sure if the winds are high enough for the clouds to survive through sunrise, but some early risers might want to look at the sky east of MK in the morning. Don't think it'll be spectacular but the clouds might look interesting. That's if there's a clear view of course!

[Cagary]

Here's a shot of one of these clouds over MK from awhile ago.

http://www.etupdates.com/wp-content/uplo...ns-011.jpg

USS Enterprise over Pahala, 2005.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...Island.jpg

More Lenticular clouds over Hawaii.

http://cdn.all-that-is-interesting.com/w...slands.jpg

-Veritas odium parit”(Terence 195–159 BC))-"Truth begets hatred".

[opihikao]

Mahalo, Tom. Very interesting! Appreciate the heads up. Clear as a bell (save the vog), and thanks Cagary for the links.

Lovely.[]

[TomK]

My pleasure, Opihikao! The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) captured the formation of some of these clouds on their webcams for those interested:

Midnight Friday through Saturday:
http://cfht.hawaii.edu/en/gallery/timela...0131019-c3&cam=c3

A little more spectacular - midnight Saturday through Sunday (still underway as I write this but the lenticular clouds have now gone):
http://cfht.hawaii.edu/en/gallery/timela...0131020-c3&cam=c3

[opihikao]

Tom, these are fantastic! One of my favorite nephews works up there "monitoring and reading" the equipment, etc. As you share your info here, it makes it easy to sound intelligent when speaking with the young one(s). []

Although there is some concern with regard to Mauna Kea by some kanaka maoli, this kind of sharing of information, (mana'o) and experience, only enhances our growth. Some may see the portal in this video that looks much like the one in Napo'opo'o and other sacred areas. In this day of progress and change, we, as a people, must progress as well. In doing so, we will not forget our language, our culture, and our history. No question. This is one of the few enjoyable lessons learned, amongst the challenges of growth we endure today.

Mahalo for sharing your experience with all of us, and my mo'opuna will have this link for their report next week with your permission, please. (The keiki's grades needs some work. Just saying...)

I was told as a kid that this day would come; where we would be able to see, within "a moment", what is happening on Mauna Kea and Kilauea. Hiki No!

Facinating, indeed.

ETA: Typo; kala mai.

[TomK]

Opihikao - you don't need my permission. I don't work for the CFHT so couldn't provide it anyway, but those videos are provided for everyone. *Please* feel free to use them any way you need. And just so you know, just about every observatory up there is doing their best to share everything with everyone. Some of them have budget problems which means public outreach is impacted but do try to work around it anyway.

Really good to see some feedback by the way. Thank you!

[AKpilot]

Hello from Alaska,


Last time I was on the BI I saw some Kelvin–Helmholtz clouds on the saddle road. Uber cool! On that same drive I also nearly hit a Pueo!

AKpilot

We're all here, because we're not all there!

[TomK]

AKpilot - I can't recall ever seeing Kelvin–Helmholtz clouds here; from the summit, Saddle Road or sea-level. You were very fortunate! I always thought I might see some in the distance away from the summit where the upper and lower winds would interact without having to deal with two massive volcanoes in the way, but don't think I ever saw them. I looked at some of my old photos thinking I might have caught some accidentally, but so far no luck. How lucky you were! Your post also made me think back to a time long ago when I sat through lectures about fluid mechanics/dynamics and thinking back then how unlucky I felt...

[AKpilot]

Tom,

Yes, working both as a pilot and as a Weather Observer, I have had lots of opportunities to observe the "Wonders of the Weather," That was one of only 2 times I had ever seen KH clouds. The second was on approach into Denver. When I lived in Denver I saw some incredible Lenticular stacks too! None of my pictures were as groovy as yours! Saw lots of fun weather phenomena in Denver; it was where Dr. Fujita did much of his research. Do you work with NOAA up on Mauna Kea?

AKpilot

We're all here, because we're not all there!

[TomK]

AKpilot - No, I don't work for NOAA, I work for one of the astronomical observatories on Mauna Kea. My father was a meteorologist, however, and have always had a fascination with the subject. It's what drove me into science to start with!