The altocumulus lenticularis is known affectionately by glider pilots as a ‘lennie’. It is an orographic cloud formation, which appears in mountainous regions as air, forced upwards over the range, cools and sheds its moisture. If it so happens that the wind takes on a wave-like oscillation in the lee of the mountain, this handsome formation can form at the crest of each wave, resulting in a line of huge shimmering white discs.

Lennies look like enormous flying saucers. Have aliens parked beside New Zealand’s Mount Cook for a cup of hot chocolate before the long ride home through the Milky Way? No, they’ve just come to remind us how clouds can be vehicles of the imagination, hovering silently in the rarefied air between crest and crag.

Current Cloud of the Month:
Microbursts (May 08)

Previous Clouds of the Month:
Irridescent Clouds (April 08)
Northern Lights – Aurora Borealis (March 08)
Ice halos (February 08)
Lightning (January 08)
Roll Cloud (December 07)
Banner Cloud (November 07)
Stratocumulus (October 07)
The Unclassified Cloud (September 07)
Alexander’s Dark Band (August 07)
Fumulus Snail (July 07)
Distrail (June 07)
Altocumulus undulatus (May 07)
Cumulonimbus capillatus (April 07)
Lacunosus (March 07)
Horseshoe Vortex Cloud (February 07)
Jet-Stream Cirrus (Janurary 07)
Altostratus/Altocumulus/Altowhateveritis (December 06)
Anti-Crepuscular Rays (November 06)
Stratocumulus (October 06)
Altocumulus (September ’06)
The Kelvin-Helmholtz Wave Cloud (August ’06)
The ‘Brocken Spectre’ (July ’06)
‘Whale’s Mouth’ (June ’06)
Noctilucent (May ’06)
Cirrus (April ’06)
Cap Cloud (March ’06)
Fallstreak Holes (February ’06)
Nacreous (January ’06)
Cirrostratus (December ’05)
Tuba (November ’05)
Virga (October ’05)
Cirrocumulus (September ’05)
Altostratus (August ’05)
Cumulus (July ’05)
Mamma (June ’05)
Pileus (May ’05)
Lenticularis (April ’05)
Stratus (March ’05)
Cumulonimbus (February ’05)
Contrails (January ’05)


To contribute a Cloud of the Month,
go to our Photograph Submissions page.

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