Maria Mudd Ruth

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The Subtle Clouds

The day dawned foggy on Tuesday. These are steaming rooftops of homes just off Boulevard Road. Fog is a type of stratus cloud and morning fog in Olympia usually portends a clear day. While billowing culumus clouds capture our attention most often, the lowly stratus clouds and the very high icy cirrus clouds often get neglected. Some clouds are fun to spot, these types are fun to watch over a longer period of time. They are quite dynamic, but you have to sit still to enjoy them.
  
This is also fog (above) rising as the sun warms the air around them. I couldn't resist an end-of-season ride in the row boat. Here's a lingering bit of fog at midday on Budd Inlet (below).


                                     
 
And then, in the western sky, a dazzling show of cirrus (below). These are high-altitude clouds (16,500 to 45,000 feet up) and are composed of ice crystals.




 These are cirrus uncinus--small clumps of ice crystals being blow about by winds aloft. The heavier ice crystals fall behind and leave a trail like a comet's behind the main cloud.