On November 1st, a fascinating phenomena known as fallstreak clouds were observed across the NWS La Crosse area, which includes western Wisconsin, southeast Minnesota and northeast Iowa. Fallstreak clouds are all made up of cloud droplets in liquid form (before the holes formed). A plane flies through the cloud deck and causes enough cooling to cause the phase to change over to ice nuclei and fall out in the middle of the deck. These clouds were some 15-25kft off of the ground with very dry air underneath, so there were no concerns about the snow making it to the ground. The hole punch fallstreak clouds were also visible on satellite imagery, which you can see here: https://facebook/NWSLaCrosse/photos/a.204230859619734.51408.190355777673909/794346260608188/?type=1&theater Enjoy and thanks to NWS La Crosse for sharing this photo album!
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 00:48:14 +0000