Kelvin-Helmholtz wave clouds
© Brad Peterson‬
It looks like a tsunami in the sky over Snowbasin, Utah.

Also known as Kelvin-Helmholtz wave clouds, these ocean waves in the sky formed on December 10, 2015, and look like Van Gogh´s Starry Night.

Look at these clouds, they look like breaking ocean waves in the sky.

Helmholtz wave clouds
© Brad Peterson‬
These amazing pictures were captured by at Snowbasin.

It takes a thin layer of shear for a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability to form - two different layers of air moving at different speeds in our atmosphere.

Kelvin-Helmholtz cloud
© Brad Peterson
The upper layers of air are moving at higher speeds and will often scoop the top of the cloud layer into these wave-like rolling structures.

These wave clouds often appear on windy days and are good indicators of atmospheric instability.