strange streak over Australia
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2004 6:36 pm
The so called wispy smoke or cloud around the post looks like a reflection of the light off the water. It ends abruptly at the distant tree line.
I saw some straight lines like this last weekend on the coast - I think it depends on the angle you view a narrow thermal front - but the ones I saw lasted almost an hour rather than just a few seconds... The properties were similar - darker "shadow" through layers of cloud - there were three or four of them at various times.
The one difference was that they curled up at the base, where the thermal front was affected by the sea
This might be also similar in origin to clouds that appear in deserts - thin parallel lines of cumulus where alternate lines of cloud move on opposite directions..!
