Beauty on the edge of science fiction: where you can see lenticular clouds

This incredible natural phenomenon is more likely to resemble an alien spaceship than clouds. Lenticular (or lenticular) clouds can be found only in some parts of our planet, and in order for them to appear, several natural factors must coincide at once, which is extremely rare. Today we will talk about how lenticular clouds form and the inhabitants of which part of the planet are most likely to see them.

The first necessary condition for the formation of lenticular clouds is the presence of mountain ranges. Therefore, it is possible to observe this wonderful atmospheric phenomenon in mountainous areas around the globe. Lenticular clouds are most often recorded in Kamchatka, in the USA, in Japan, for example, over Mount Fuji, where they look especially picturesque.

Lenticular clouds form in the surface layers of the atmosphere, in the troposphere, at an altitude of 2 to 7 kilometers. The nature of this mysterious phenomenon is not fully understood. According to scientists, their appearance is associated with the approach of a powerful atmospheric front or strong horizontal air currents. Air masses saturated with moisture meet an obstacle in the form of mountain peaks. Around the barrier, the air mass rises, moisture condenses, and bizarre clouds form.

If you watch the clouds for a long time, it seems that they are motionless. In fact, their visible component is unchanged, and the clouds themselves are in a constant process of occurrence and destruction. From the windward side of a mountain obstacle, new air masses saturated with water vapor constantly come in and clouds form.

Occasionally lenticular clouds can be found near powerful thunderclouds, which also serve as an obstacle to the movement of air masses. And if for tourists and photographers the appearance of lenticular clouds is always an interesting and exciting event, then the pilots of aircraft try to fly around them at a distance. Such clouds pose a threat to aircraft, since turbulence is often observed in such conditions.