Sideways Plus #5 +WATER+

Here is installment number 5 for A Sideways Look at Clouds--an excerpt and supplemental content for each chapter of my book you to enjoy. Click these links to  the first four: Prologue /Cloud /Visible / Mass

Each chapter of my book covers one term in the definition of a cloud: a visible mass of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere above the earth. This fourth posting covers the chapter on Water.

"Each of our ten cloud types contains two or three forms of water simultaneously--vapor, water droplets, and ice crystals. The combination varies between the cloud types and changes over the lifetime of an individual cloud....water molecules are moving fluidly between vapor, liquid, and solid phases. Change is occurring at he largest and smallest scales--from the overall mass of the cloud to atoms within it. Even clouds that seem stationary or slow-moving are in perpetual molecular turmoil. A cloud is a visible mass of zinging, bouncing, jiggling, and darting. A cloud is a moon bounce, a pinball machine, a beehive, a mosh pit of water."

One of the most difficult things to realize is that water vapor in our atmosphere is invisible the naked eye and that the water we can see in the form of a cloud is liquid water or solid water (ice). It is easy to think vapor is the same as steam, but it isn't. Steam is liquid water droplets. Thanks to the Geostationary Operational Satellite System (GOES), you can see otherwise invisible water vapor imagery  here. A fine example of water vapor over the continental U.S. can be seen here via mp.4. 

Another challenge in trying to visualize all that water in clouds is the shape of the water droplets. Liquid water droplets are spherical. In the form of raindrops they may be spherical or even hamburger-bun shaped. Ice crystals appear in many beautiful iterations of the hexagonal structure of interlocking water molecules. 

Water droplets are never never never shaped like "Mr. Drippy"

Nor are water molecules ever shaped like Mickey Mouse. 

Clouds are made of water and dirt. This came a surprise to me because the clouds do not look dirty. Our atmosphere is full of microscopic particles (too many to list here), some which form the perfect surface for water vapor molecules to condense on (the way it does on a blade of grass on a dewy morning for on the side of a cold soda can on a hot and humid summer day). These particles are known as "condensation nuclei" and are at the heart of every cloud droplet. After a rain, these particles are "washed" out of the atmosphere and leave the air feeling fresh and clean. 

One of the most spectacular forms of the altocumulus cloud is this species known as altocumulus lenticularis. Here (below) there are several of these "lenticulars" or "lennies" as they are known by the cloud cognoscenti. These are hovering over Mt. Rainier where they are commonly seen (though not always as spectacularly as this example). This is a type of mid-level cloud (mid is between 6,500 and 23,000 feet) that forms in the lee of a prominent mountain or mountain range; warm, moist water vapor is forced to rise over a mountain barrier and, as it does so, it cools and condenses--becoming a visible, lens-shaped cloud. As it passes descends on the leeward side, the cloud warms and evaporates. The pattern of ascending and descending air established by the mountain continues downwind, creating a series of pennies.

I have never seen a lennie as dramatic as the one above, but this cap cloud (below) hugging Mt. Rainier one August afternoon provided more beauty, comfort, and solace than any cloud I have ever experienced. 

As did this layer of altocumulus clouds that came to my rescue when it caught a "glory"--an optical phenomenon associated with water droplet clouds. For more images of glories (so you can recognize them from your airplane window seat, check out the photos on EarthSky.

Next up: Sideways #6: +DROPLETS+

Send in the Clouds!

Cloud watching is contagious--just look at a few of the photos friends, family, and acquaintances are sending me in the wake of the the publication of my book, A Sideways Look at Clouds. It's heartwarming to know more people are taking the time to look up at the skies (and ceilings). Thank you for sharing your photos with me. 

These stratocumulus beauties--the silver lining of an unsuccessful duck-hunting trip--were captured over Davis, North Carolina.  Photo by Matthew Mudd.

From a  friend visiting Boston this week, I received these heavenly cumulus clouds from the ceiling  of the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum. So many paintings use clouds to where gods, goddesses, and cupids cavort. This is the "Coronation of Hebe" by 16th-century painter Paolo Veronese.  Hebe is the Greek goddess of youth and cupbearer to the gods of Mt. Olympus. Nice work if you can get it!      Photo by Anne Kilgannon. 

Here is  a detail of the "Coronation of Hebe" painted long before we  knew clouds could not support the weight of one (not to mention five) bodies for a cozy celebration. 

And here, a cirrus fibratus cloud from Vashon Island, WA. It's incredible what forms ice takes in our atmosphere. Photo by Richard Rogers, who named this cloud an "Angel Feather" and has written a book called 100 Words for Rain. Watch a fun video here to learn some of these PNW insider names.  

Thanks to Emma Amiad of Vashon Island for this photo (and 26 more!), taken near Yakima, WA. When you have a big unobstructed view of the horizon and a flotilla of cumulus humilis and cumulus fractus clouds, it's time for some mind bending. The clouds on the horizon are not lower that the clouds at the top of the photograph. All the gray bases of these clouds are at the same altitude. Yessiree. Each of these clouds formed from rising moist, warm air, which contains invisible water vapor. When that air reaches a certain altitude/temperature, the water vapor cools and condenses into visible water droplets--our cloud. That altitude is known as the "condensation level." 

Emma Amiad also sent in this photo of low stratocumulus clouds over Wyoming's Teton Range. Aren't the three window-like holes in the cloud layer striking?  Funny how the lack of cloud is what makes this photo so dynamic. 

Thank you Matt, Anne, Richard, and Emma. 

"Sideways" on Tour

As if on cue, the clouds returned to the Pacific Northwest as Mountaineers Books' released my new book, A Sideways Look at Clouds. The clouds never do anything on cue, so their timing is notable here. (Even stranger, Hurricane Maria made landfall as I was starting my book tour).

The clouds have been dramatic this fall and I've been on the road encouraging readers to look up and enjoy the every-changing drama in the skies at bookstores and other venues in Olympia, Seattle, Bellingham, Marysville, Kirkland, Portland, and Washington, DC. (Check out my events calendar for upcoming talks and book signings).

More than talking about my book and sharing some of my photos of the spectacular clouds we have in the Pacific Northwest, I've loved answering their questions about clouds: How exactly does it rain? When is a cloud a "cloud" and when do you call them "clouds?" Why do we have so many clouds here? What's the deal with high and low pressure? Are clouds changing? I am going to create a FAQs page to answer all of these and more.

I've also loved hearing people's stories about clouds. Here is one story (handwritten) and delivered to me at the 2017 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) trade show by Mary Anne Fraser, manager of Brilliant Moon books in Shelton.

"100 years ago, when I'd just turned twelve, I spent met hard-earned babysitting wages on a small Kodak camera. Within an hour the complete roll was filled and my mom (knowing how excited I'd been about this long-awaited purchase) offered to take the roll to our local "Pay and Save" to have my photos developed.

The week-long wait was finally over and I ran to the car to discover what my new hobby had delivered. Before I could open the obviously already opened packet, my mom said to me in a rather disappointed voice: "They're all clouds."

I looked at her, waiting for the rest of the observation ("They're beautiful." "I love the one that looks like an otter." "What an artist's eye you have.") but, alas, that was the sum total of her opinion.

I, on the other hand, was thrilled. Yes, they WERE all clouds."

While in Portland, I visited KATU-TV to talk with Helen Raptis on "AMNW" and Tra'Renee Chambers on "Afternoon Live" and also with Jefferson Smith, host of "XRAY in the Morning" (skip to 1:54:48) before my talk at Powell's on Hawthorne

After my interview on "Afternoon Live," the on-set photographer, Mark Plut, showed me photographs of his two recent paintings--of clouds!  "I too am fascinated by clouds," Mark told me, "especially how to paint them." In the first painting, Mark as painted a sky washed with what look like cirrostratus clouds to me. In the second painting, the landscape is transformed by more dynamic cumulus and altocumulus clouds. What a difference, eh? Thank you, Mark!

And because you can never have too many clouds--or paintings of clouds--in the Pacific Northwest, I went on a cloud hunt at the Portland Museum of Art. What a bonanza of clouds! Here is a gallery of a few of my favorites. 

Oskar Kokoschka/Tuileries Gardens, Paris; George Inness/Apezzo Pass, Titian's House; Joe Goode/Torn Cloud Painting; Robert Henri/Rue de Rennes; Robert Goonough/Grey Development; N.C. Wyeth/Rip Van Winkle, endpaper illustration; [forgot to photograph the label of the skyscrapers in the clouds--ooops]; George Michel/Landscape; ibid/detail of cloud

REMEMBER....EARTH WITHOUT ART is JUST "EH"

Speaking of...I'll be signing books at the 37th Annual  Wild Arts Festival at Montgomery Park in Portland, OR. The festival runs November 18-19 and benefits the fabulous Audubon Society of Portland. I'll be there Sunday noon-4 p.m. along with 36 other authors (and more than 200 artists) whose work is inspired by nature.

Sideways Plus #2: +Cloud+

This second "Sideways Plus" post offers an excerpt from "Cloud," the second chapter of my new book, A Sideways Look at Clouds, and illustrations and resources related to the chapter.

"I recognized a cloud when I saw one of course, but I couldn't explain what made a cloud a cloud and not something else, such s smoke, haze, steam, or mist. I knew clouds were made of water and that they floated, but so did icebergs. What kind of water were clouds made of? Was it plain old water--H20--or something more special? Was fog a cloud? What were the defining features of a cloud?."

"From twelve different sources, I copied out twelve different definitions of "cloud." I marked the words that appeared in at least three of the definitions. Ten key words emerged: visible, mass, water, droplets, ice, crystals, suspended, atmosphere, above, earth. By adding a few prepositions and articles, I created a new definition: 'A cloud is a visible mass of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere above the earth.'...Each word felt like a stepping-stone--no, more like a door. A door I could open. A door I could wanter through to find my way into the clouds."

The Danger Zone: Click here for information on the free, two-hour SkyWarn Weather Spotter Training offered by National Weather Service (NWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Local classroom training and online training are offered. Click here to hear the song that accompanied the time-lapse sequences of "menacing" clouds shown during my training course. The poor clouds! 

Luke Howard (1772-1864). This man brought order to the chaos of the skies when he introduced the Latin names for the clouds in 1802.

Order a copy of The Invention of Clouds: How an Amateur Meteorologist Forged the Language of the Skies, by Richard Hamblyn. This story of Luke Howard (a chemist and lifelong cloud watcher) answers the question: Why did it take so long to name the clouds? 

Get lost in the clouds by following this link to the International Cloud Atlas. This new digital edition was released in March 2017 by the World Meteorological Organization and is the gold standard for professional meteorologists, for those working in aeronautical and maritime environments, and for the amateur cloud-watcher.

The Cloud Appreciation Society is a web-based organization for cloud lovers around the world. On blue-sky days, you can find all the clouds (photos, poems, science, history) you'd ever want here. Become member and get a cloud a day in your inbox. 

My three go-to books for identifying clouds:

Next Sideways Plus post will feature the  "Visible" chapter.