Spectacular ‘UFO’ clouds appear near Old Harry Rocks
Spectacular Lenticular clouds appeared off the coast of Poole early on Monday morning, while I was on my way to a swim in the sea. Known as Altocumulus Standing Lenticular (ACSL) or Altocumulus Standing Lenticularis clouds, I first spotted these impressive clouds from the top of Evening Hill as I drove towards Sandbanks beach.
Down on the sand, the clouds slowly became even more impressive. So much so, I decided to pause my swim to take a photo while up to my neck in water. Luckily, the swimmer doing front crawl also came along just at the right time.
What are Lenticular clouds?
Lenticular clouds are smooth, lens-shaped clouds formed when moist air flows over hills (or mountains), which creates standing waves in the atmosphere. Occasionally, they form in the UK over lower hills when the atmospheric conditions are right; in this case it would have been the hills at nearby Purbeck.
Lenticular clouds often look like giant flying saucers, and can apparently often be mistaken for UFOs. I’m sure you can see why.
#lenticularclouds
#lenticularcloudspoole
#sandbanksbeach
#ufoclouds
