On the evening of April 7, a strange phenomenon appeared in the sky after the rain in the urban area of Leshan, Sichuan - there were several banners radiating from the center to the surroundings at the bottom of the low-altitude clouds, with evenly spaced holes in between, through which stronger sunlight was transmitted. Some netizens exclaimed, "It looks like a giant flying saucer." Another netizen joked that this is the "legendary opening of the skylight to speak frankly."
▲Clouds shaped like flying saucers
Regarding this natural phenomenon, Zhang Yong, director of the Leshan Meteorological Observatory, said in an interview with local media reporters that this is caused by a large amount of water vapor accidentally formed by various meteorological factors such as wind disturbance and sunlight exposure. . This natural cloud state is very rare and can be described as a miraculous work of nature.
Red Star News reporters searched and found that clouds similar to the shape of flying saucers have appeared in many places. So, how does this "flying saucer cloud" form?
According to public information on China Popular Science Network, the commonly referred to as "flying saucer clouds" are also called lenticular clouds. Depending on the height, they may be lenticular altocumulus or lenticular stratocumulus. Its shape is a bit like a convex lens or an almond, because It is named after it looks like an alien flying saucer in science fiction works.
Most flying saucer clouds are related to the surrounding terrain. Generally, the lee waves of the mountains are formed when the air flows over the mountains. The lee waves propagate downstream, and the resulting rising and downdrafts work together to form flying saucer clouds. Some flying saucer clouds are also caused by fluctuations before the arrival of a front.
The appearance of most flying saucer clouds indicates that the atmospheric conditions were relatively stable at that time, indicating that the weather will be fine in the future. But if it is brought by a cold front, such as the lenticular clouds near Mount Fuji in Japan, it often indicates stormy weather.
Red Star News reporter Gu Aigang
editor Peng Jiang editor-in-chief Guan Li
