Rare Kelvin-Helmholtz wave clouds spotted off UK's Norfolk coast

Helen Burchel
BBC
Fri, 28 Jul 2023 13:27 UTC

© Joy Patrick

The Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds are described by the Met Office as "an extremely rare phenomenon"By

A "rare" cloud formation resembling waves in the sky has been described as "some of the best I've seen in the UK" by a weather expert.

A photo of the Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds was captured by Joy Patrick looking out to the sea at Trimingham in Norfolk.

She spotted them from her bedroom window on Sunday evening as the Eastern Daily Press first reported.

Chris Bell, a meteorologist from WeatherQuest, said the cloud photo was an "especially good, large example".

He told the BBC the clouds were "relatively rare" and that the ones spotted in Norfolk were "probably some of the best I've seen in the UK in while".

According to the Met Office website, Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds are "an extremely rare phenomenon, where a cloud produces a billowing wave pattern.

"They occur when there is a strong vertical shear between two air streams, causing winds to blow faster at the upper level than at the lower levels."

The clouds are named after Hermann von Helmholtz and William Thomson, Lord Kelvin - both physicists who studied turbulent airflow.

Comment: Amidst the increasingly extreme weather, a variety of other, perhaps less obvious, phenomena are also being documented and that only further serve to demonstrate the shift occurring on our planet, and elsewhere in our solar system:

• Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks explodes and sprouts 'horns'
• Rare blue jet atmospheric phenomenon photographed over Texas, several sighted in one night
• Cosmic climate change: 'Space plasma hurricane' observed in ionosphere above North Pole!

Also check out SOTT radio's:

• Behind the Headlines: Earth changes in an electric universe: Is climate change really man-made?
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