wads of wool roving

wads of wool roving

undulate across the sky

in voluptuous waves

Late March, for a breathtaking half hour the entire dome of the sky is covered with billowing blue-gray clouds rising and falling in waves. Altostratus undulatus form when the air above and below the cloud layer is moving at different speeds and directions, pulling, twisting and shearing the clouds into intricate, fast-changing patterns. Sometimes it looks as if the waves crest over the tops of trees, but this ocean of clouds is too high to be affected by mere landlubbers.

sky is an ocean

sky is an ocean

of undulating currents, 

sand ripples in clouds 

Waves and clouds are cousins, both moved by currents in the vast oceans of water and air enveloping the Earth. On the ground, only a little breeze. Overhead, in the space between the county courthouse and the civic center, two airstreams are moving at different speeds and directions, shearing the high flying cirrocumulus clouds into undulating ripples, like water on sand. In addition to cirrocumulus undulatus, a second layer of cirrus clouds crossing on the diagonal below adds an extra dimension, duplicatus. 

bitter wind -- white sun

bitter wind -- white sun 

masked by undulating cloud 

rolls mirroring snow

The sun pales, sapped by bitter wind (wind chill -12 F, -24.4 C) and masked by opaque waves of white and gray cloudlets (altocumulus opacus undulatus). Despite the cold and wind, I take a moment to admire the perlescent sun glowing through wavy white rolls of clouds above a stage of sparkling snow.