Ghost Clouds in the Sky

Noctilucent clouds are being seen as far south as Southern France at the moment

Source

A veritable storm of noctilucent cloud (NLC) activity is taking place over Europe this week. "On July 2nd, the bands were so bright and compact, they seemed to cast their own shadows on the sky," says John McConnell of Maghaberry, N. Ireland: photo. "I've been observing NLCs for forty years, and I have never seen that before." In Szubin, Poland, electric-blue tendrils swirled out of the sunset, forming an octopus-like display "over 90o wide and 40o high," says Marek Nikodem,

Normally confined to high latitudes, the glowing clouds have spread as far south as France. "On June 30th, I saw NLCs for the first time," reports Laurent Laveder of Quimper, France: photo. "It was an exceptional night!" Near Montpellier in the south of France, Guillaume Cannat photographed an even brighter display: photo. "I did not think we could see noctilucent clouds so far from the pole," he marvels.

The upshot is, if you live in Europe, be alert for NLCs.

Never saw these myself before until yesterday morning:








Seems Europe is currently a good spot to see them. Any more reports?


There remains speculation on what causes NLCs - they were first observed after the Krakatoa eruption. Some believe that they are become more common because of global warming, others suggest exhaust from the space shuttle is to blame.

en.wikipedia.org...

wow , excellent pics there Essan,
did you take them in UK ??

my mum saw them in mid portugal so that is pretty far south.

thanks
snoopyuk

Fantatsic Essan

One of the perks of living in a high latitude region. Still strange to see them so far south. Wish I could see them here

Star and Flag for this

Originally posted by snoopyuk
wow , excellent pics there Essan,
did you take them in UK ??

my mum saw them in mid portugal so that is pretty far south.

thanks
snoopyuk

Yes, took them here in Evesham, Worcs. A friend was photographing them at the same time from the New Forest

Really great photos, Essan! I have a "thing" for clouds and have never seen anything like this before. It almost looks as if the sea has moved to the sky.

Hopefully OzWeatherman or some other ATS member can enlighten us further about the nature of these clouds.

This may seam funny.
Once i had a dram and the second coming was part of the dream as was the sky like the one above only the color was gold.
Spooky dream and nothing else no predictions.

I'll keep out watching tonight and in the morning, I'm in the South East so I should be able to pick them up

Excuse my ignorance, but what are the significance of these clouds?

Another excellent night in the UK for nocties last night, these are my favourites taken between 11pm and 12pm BST - hoping for more to come over the next few weeks







2009 is expected to see a peak in nocilucent clouds, so worth keeping a look out! Hopefully other ATS members may be able to add their own pictures too

As to why we're seeing so many more of them, well, this is a conspiracy website ..... but I perosnally don't have a strong opinion.

cool pics. looks like sompthing you would see in an alian movie