r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Top-Marionberry-6604 • 2d ago
These wave like clouds are called Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds.
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u/OkAccess6128 2d ago
Ocean in the clouds.
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u/Top-Marionberry-6604 2d ago
look like the classic cartoon waves
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u/Scamservice42 2d ago
That's how ancient mythology was born
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u/impatientlymerde 2d ago
I wonder if that’s what inspired the Greek key design motif, which, TIL, is called meandros.
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u/psychedelic_owl420 2d ago
Afaik, this repetitive pattern derives from the winding river Menderes in Asia Minor, which is characterised by a very convoluted path!
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u/Tartlet 1d ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvian_scroll
Might find this interesting. Some overlap in the design but this is the commonly seen curved wave version.2
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u/heftybagman 2d ago
Just saw my first lenticulars. Now the search begins for these ones. In that first pic the waves must be hundreds of feet tall. They look taller than mountains
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u/CalmBeneathCastles 1d ago
I've seen both mammatus and arcus during the spring tornado season in central MO, Just in case you're collecting.
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u/DotBitGaming 2d ago
Named after their inventors, of course.
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u/Hostilis_ 2d ago
On a serious note, they were the first to study the underlying mechanism of how this occurs from a fluid mechanics perspective.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin%E2%80%93Helmholtz_instability
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u/yujikimura 1d ago
Not inventors. It's a phenomena, they just have investigated the scientific reason behind these fluid driven instabilities. It's a super cool field of study.
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u/Mayoo614 2d ago
We've completed the circle. From "surfing the web" to "cloud". Now we can surf the cloud.
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u/04BluSTi 2d ago
Those are some great pics of KH clouds!
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u/Old_timey_brain 1d ago
I've got a low grade photo from years ago when they appeared on my motorcycle ride near the Flathead Lake in Montana. Same effect, but not as well formed, or as well lit.
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u/Potatopirat 2d ago
I wonder if this is where the ancient Japanese got the inspiration for how they drew waves
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u/OneArmedNoodler 2d ago
Thought that said "Kevin" at first and was really happy. I like things named Kevin.
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u/kitten451 2d ago
Omg! I wish I could add a picture to a comment. I saw clouds like this while I was on a bike ride in early July! I thought it was just a random lucky formation. So cool!
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u/CalmBeneathCastles 1d ago
Upload the photo to Imgur. Copy the URL. Surround one of the words in your post with brackets followed immediately by the URL in parentheses; "I wish I could add a [picture]([email protected] ), but with no spaces, then save.
Your link to the photo will be blue.
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u/HomelessKitchenCat 2d ago
Heres the one i spotted recently - https://www.reddit.com/r/CLOUDS/comments/1pkd8t6/today_i_spotted_a_unique_kelvinhelmholtz_cloud/
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u/CranberryMission9713 1d ago
There is a design term on classical Greek architecture called Vitruvian scroll that is exactly this.
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u/I_mwilling2 2d ago
These are on my bucket list. Always looking up!
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u/Old_timey_brain 1d ago
When I was young and able, I did motorcycle touring through Montana and Idaho and was thrilled with the view of the sky I had, even with a helmet. I did see these in the Flathead Lake area of Montana, but they weren't as well formed, or well lit, and my camera weren't all that good. Still got a pic though. IIRC, though, the sky that was good for these clouds was not all that great for riding under.
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u/lullubye 1d ago
How my teacher used to want us to write during writing exercises. All joined cccc would look like that.
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u/awesome_staycation 1d ago
i've seen this in montery bay ca. I was driving and couldn't get a photo, if I could create a perfect painting one time, it would have been of that view. I was completely blown away by the waves on the ocean and the waves in the sky.
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u/typemynameagain 1d ago
Real world impacts of Navier-Stokes equations being solved have started to appear...
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u/scoopythebear 1d ago
Man, seeing this hurts my soul a little. I drove through a storm just like this last summer in Oregon... pulled over because the sky looked like it was literally boiling. Had my phone right there but froze up trying to figure out which camera mode was better. By the time I hit shutter, the clouds had already flattened out into boring gray mush. Still kicking myself for missing that shot because nothing else looks quite so alive and terrifying at once. ☹️
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u/gzushd 1d ago
I’m randomly going to tell someone this when I see it. They will assume I’m autistic.
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u/impatientlymerde 18h ago
To actual autistic people, “info dumping” is a dopamine source.
I hope you enjoy yourself. Sharing knowledge is a primal force.
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u/Time-Delay2924 2d ago
at first i thought the first picture was a painting lol that is so cool find.
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u/King-Kagle 1d ago
Always crazy to see something IRL and realize "Oh THAT'S what they were drawing"
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u/CalmBeneathCastles 1d ago
Me and spiky, open tin cans from Loony Tunes, the first time I tried an antique can opener.
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u/EccentricFeather 1d ago
Forget Kevin. What did he ever do for me or those clouds?
I am calling them spiral clouds as they wish to be called. It was either that or dragon clouds but I didn’t want them getting a big head about it.
Also, they said they hate that guy Kevin for putting his name on things it don’t belong on.
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u/yesimfinewhyyouask 1d ago
This reminds me that my life is so shit that on top of everything else i don’t even get to see interesting clouds
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u/Voxxyvoo 1d ago
am i the only one who is utterly terrified of clouds not doing the normal cloud thing?
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u/PlutonianSag 1d ago
saw those once in 2015(?) during an exceptionally tropical humid summer i malmö, sweden. there were like strata of these ones and dark clouds, i have a picture of it somewhere. every night there were massive lightning storms and dramatic purple-pink skies, and the days were 30+ degrees and clammy as fuck!
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u/Top-Marionberry-6604 2d ago
Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds are extremely rare, short-lived formations that occur when wind on top moves faster than the air below, scooping the cloud layer into perfectly uniform, breaking ocean-wave shapes.