Lovelock Roll Cloud

April 13, 2006

Clouds4

Provided and copyright by: Judy A Mosby
Summary authors & editors: Judy A Mosby

As sunset approached here in Lovelock, Nevada on March 7, 2006, I went out for a walk around the yard and was stunned by an approaching fantastic cloud formation. The camera is facing north, and as can be seen above, this roll cloud was nearly hugging the ground. Star Peak in the Humboldt Range is on the far right -- elevation of is 9,836 ft (2,998 m). Though it appeared ominous, it came in rather gently, bringing snow, not rain. It snowed (snow and graupel) for about 20 minutes and then rolled along down the valley. Roll Clouds often form along or just behind the leading edge of storm systems, and they're detached from the parent storm cloud. Rotating on a horizontal axis, they're sometimes mistaken for tornados. See also the Earth Sciecne Pictur eof the Day for December 19, 2005.

Photo details: Nikon Cool Pix 4800, 0.01 sec (1/99) exposure, f/2.7 aperature, 6 mm focal length, 50 ISO speed, 0/10 EV exposure bias.

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