Ac castellanus
/ 0 Comments / in Altocumulus, Medium LevelsFormation of altocumulus castellanus with virga sitting on the common base of the rear edge of a thunderstorm leaving our Islands as evident by the visible satellite image on the third thumbnail taken some time later. The whole formation of the first widespread storm of Autumn 2018 was explained here. The clouds were identified as such due to their crenelated appearance at their tops with falling rain not reaching the surface underneath each cloud element which gave us the castellanus species therefore adding also the ‘virga’ accessory. The first thumbnail is a closer view of the cloud elements depicting the virga much more clearly and showing also anti-crespucular rays. The second thumbnail shows the weather sounding of the post cold front airmass indicating decreased instability and colder air profile but still with the presence of mid-level clouds. On the other hand, the fourth thumbnail shows high level clouds taken on the evening of the type Ci fibratus and Ci spissatus in the background which were actually remnants of thunderstorm cumulonimbus clouds as an upper-level trough was about to enter from the Rhone Valley.
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