• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

What Are Morning Glory Clouds?

December 28, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

Yes, morning glory clouds are a thing and no, it’s probably not what you are thinking. In this case, morning glory refers to a rare but striking cloud formation found in northeastern Australia, near the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Imagine remarkably long tubes of cotton-like clouds that stretch for hundreds of miles, appearing either solitarily or as one among many. According to LMU Munich, these clouds are typically a mile (1-2 kilometers) wide but 60 miles (100 kilometers long – or more. Indeed, UC Santa Barbara reports some clouds can reach astonishing lengths of 600 miles (900 kilometers). 

Advertisement

These low-hanging clouds are not only impressive in scale, but are extraordinarily fast and can achieve speeds of 10 to 15 meters per second. As a result, they have become popular among thrill seekers looking to “surf” the cloud. According to the BBC, professional gliders can “ride” the cloud for hundreds of miles – remaining in the air for hours.

So, what causes these unusual clouds? According to UC Santa Barbara, they are thought to be triggered by a temperature inversion, where a layer of warmer air traps cooler air beneath it. This leads to differences in air density where two sea breezes meet, causing a wave-like motion. As air on the wave rises, a cloud is formed. Meanwhile, air on the back side sinks, causing the cloud to evaporate.

The northwestern tip of Australia is not the only place morning glory clouds can be formed but they are the most consistent and the only place where it is possible to predict their occurrence ahead of time. According to LMU Munich, they are most likely to be spotted in the months of September, October and November during the early morning hours.

Burketown, an outback town with a population of around 200, has become notorious (in certain circles) for being the best place to witness the incredible meteorological phenomena. According to the BBC, a sharp drop in temperature precedes the arrival of a morning glory cloud – indeed, one of the first signs is the formation of condensation on the local pub’s glasses. 

Advertisement

Morning glory clouds are not the only spectacular cloud formations to grace the skies. Noctilucent – or night shining clouds – are becoming an increasingly common phenomenon. While back in 2014, a surreal, rainbow-colored cloud called a fallstreak hole made headlines.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Apple Maps rolls out 3D view to London, L.A., New York, and San Francisco
  2. Germany’s SPD to open coalition talks with “kingmaker” parties
  3. How Mysterious Space Waves Cross The Turbulent “Shock” To Affect Earth
  4. The World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm Is Looking To Grow Even Further

Source Link: What Are Morning Glory Clouds?

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Unexpected Discovery Hints We Might Be Inside A Black Hole
  • Why Are People Talking About This “Square Structure” Captured On Mars?
  • The World Has Five Oceans, Not Four – Discover The Latest One
  • Just 80 Percent Of People Can Perceive This Optical Illusion And No One Knows Why
  • Something Other Than Geological Processes Or Humans Created These Caves
  • Can Black Holes Lead To Other Places In The Universe?
  • The Devastating Communication Problem Facing Light-Speed Travel
  • The Great British Pet Massacre: One Of The Saddest Tragedies Of 1939
  • Would A Vacuum-Filled Balloon Float?
  • Queen Ant Produces Babies Of 2 Different Species, For The First Time Ever We Have A Complete Map Of Brain Activity, And Much More This Week
  • Yes, Your Attention Span Might Have Shortened, But That Might Not Be A Terrible Thing
  • This May Be The First Known Portrait Of A Viking – And It’s A Sexually Rampant “Beard Fondler”
  • The Largest Snake In Captivity Is A Humongous 7.7-Meter Reticulated Python Called Medusa
  • Poo Power: How Animal Dung Could Unlock New Antibiotic Treatments
  • Perfectly Preserved Dinosaur Tail Found Inside 99-Million-Year-Old Amber Was Mistaken For A Plant
  • Why Aren’t Full Photos Of The Milky Way Real? A NASA Analyst Explains The Obvious
  • Freaky Ratfish Have Teeth Growing Out Of Their Foreheads, And They Use Them For Love
  • The Largest Turtle Ever Known To Have Lived Was An Absolute Unit
  • “It Literally Leapt Out Of The Rock At Us”: How Violent Storms Led To The Extraordinary Preservation Of Baby Pterosaurs
  • This Is The Reason Why Earth’s Core Exists, And It’s More Interesting Than You Might Think
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version