APOD: Cap Cloud over the Sierra Nevadas (2013 Nov 26)

[APOD Robot]

Cap Cloud over the Sierra Nevadas

Explanation: One might say this was a bell weather day for the Sierra Nevada mountains. In January, just as the Sun was setting above the district of Albayzín in Granada, Spain, a huge cloud appeared as a bell capping the Veleta peak. Such a Cap cloud is formed by air forced upwards by a mountain peak, with the air then cooling, saturating with moisture, and finally having its molecular water condense into cloud droplets. Such a bell-shaped cloud structure is unusual as air typically moves horizontally, making most clouds nearly flat across at the bottom. Vertical waves can also give additional lenticular cloud layers, as also seen above. Given the fleeting extent of the great cloud coupled with momentarily excellent sunset coloring, one might considered this also a bellwether day for an accomplished photographer.

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[Beyond]

That must really look neat when seen in person.

[Boomer12k]

AWESOME!!!! That is so cool, and a Great Picture as well!!!

When I read "Sierra Nevada Mountains", I thought it was Northern California...where my Aunt and Uncle used to live....but the Architecture was all wrong....that would be more Southern California....did not realize they had the same name in Spain.

:---[===] *

[hldboo]

But Grenada is an island in the South Atlantic.

[Nitpicker]

But Grenada is an island in the South Atlantic.

There is an island named Grenada in the Caribbean Sea, which is in the North Atlantic Ocean. But this (beautiful) APOD is from the city of Granada, in Spain.

Edit: and if the photo had taken in more on the right, it would have been more Moorish.

[Markus Schwarz]

This photo reminds me of Independence Day.

[madtom1999]

Its a lovely cloud and a lovely picture but this is Astronomy Picture Of the Day and it seems clouds are getting in the way of astronomy here too!

[Nitpicker]

Its a lovely cloud and a lovely picture but this is Astronomy Picture Of the Day and it seems clouds are getting in the way of astronomy here too!

Well it might not be astronomy in the strict sense, but observational astronomers have a need to study the weather, especially cloud formations, so there is some crossover. And a good understanding of cloud dynamics can give insight into the observation of clouds on other planets. And many weather observations are made from orbiting satellites.

Just prior to seeing your post, I was studying my sky on this website:
http://www.skippysky.com.au

[DSYoungEsq]

A lovely picture! But the proper name of the mountain range is "Sierra Nevada". There is no need to pluralize it, and in any event, pluralizing the adjectival "Nevada" would certainly be wrong!

[MargaritaMc]

Asterisk visitors who enjoy clouds might like the Cloud Appreciation Society's "Cloud of the Month".
Here is this month's:
http://cloudappreciationsociety.org/november-2013/

And here is a Lenticular - impressive, but not as amazing as today's Apod

http://cloudappreciationsociety.org/march-2013/
M

[Nitpicker]

A lovely picture! But the proper name of the mountain range is "Sierra Nevada". There is no need to pluralize it, and in any event, pluralizing the adjectival "Nevada" would certainly be wrong!

No quibbles from me. I just wanted to mention that in Australia there are the Snowy Mountains, which are part of the Great Dividing Range. Respectively, these are known colloquially as The Snowies and The Ranges. It is probably a good thing Oz was never colonised by the Spanish, as we'd surely mangle their plurals too.

Edit reason: plurals used to say tenses, which was wrong then, now and in the future.

[neufer]

http://translate.google.com/translate?s ... 2F&act=url

[owlice]

A lovely picture! But the proper name of the mountain range is "Sierra Nevada". There is no need to pluralize it, and in any event, pluralizing the adjectival "Nevada" would certainly be wrong!

No quibbles from me. I just wanted to mention that in Australia there are the Snowy Mountains, which are part of the Great Dividing Range. Respectively, these are known colloquially as The Snowies and The Ranges. It is probably a good thing Oz was never colonised by the Spanish, as we'd surely mangle their tenses too.

As others have mentioned, we have a mountain range called Sierra Nevada in the US, too, and these are usually referred to/called "the Sierra Nevadas."

[Chris Peterson]

As others have mentioned, we have a mountain range called Sierra Nevada in the US, too, and these are usually referred to/called "the Sierra Nevadas."

Half the Spanish speaking countries of the world have mountains with that name. Not very creative.

[geckzilla]

To be fair, in the US, our most prominent mountain range is called The Rocky Mountains. Yes, mountains are made of rocks. Very good!

[FloridaMike]

As others have mentioned, we have a mountain range called Sierra Nevada in the US, too, and these are usually referred to/called "the Sierra Nevadas."

Half the Spanish speaking countries of the world have mountains with that name. Not very creative.

I guess at the end of the day a "snow-covered mountain range" is a "snow-covered mountain range".

[neufer]

[b][color=#0000FF]IRAM 30m telescope close to the Pico Veleta peak[/color][/b]

---

<<Veleta ("Weather vane") or Pico del Veleta is the third highest peak of the Iberian peninsula and the second highest in the Sierra Nevada. Veleta's northern slopes are home to the Sierra Nevada Ski Station. The access road that takes one to approximately 10 metres below the summit is the highest paved road in Europe across the mountains from Granada to the western Alpujarras. The Corral de la Veleta or Corral del Veleta glacier, at 37° N the southernmost glacier in Europe, disappeared in 1913.

On Pico Veleta at an altutude of 2920 m is the location of the IRAM 30m telescope. The IRAM 30m millimeter radio telescope is a radio telescope for astronomical observations in the millimeter range of wavelengths, operated by the Institute for Radio Astronomy in the Millimeter Range (IRAM)) and located on the Sierra Nevada, in Spain, close to the Pico Veleta peak. It is the largest millimeter-wave telescope in the world after the Large Millimeter Telescope. Each year more than 200 scientists from all over the world visit this observatory to explore the universe at millimeter wavelengths, with interests going from our Solar System to interstellar dust and gas or cosmology.>>

[Chris Peterson]

I guess at the end of the day a "snow-covered mountain range" is a "snow-covered mountain range".

Here in Colorado (home to the creatively named "Rocky Mountains") we have a plethora of Black Mountains and Chimney Rocks. All those original settlers, thinking they were onto something new...

[geckzilla]

We should have named our planet Rock Ball.

[Chris Peterson]

We should have named our planet Rock Ball.

Well, we did name it "Dirt". Pretty close.

(Let's not forget all the problems when the "Rock Ball" crowd got into it with the "Rock Dish" crowd!)

[Ann]

We should have named our planet Rock Ball.

Well, we did name it "Dirt". Pretty close.

Click to view full size image

Source: http://www.texastech.com/compliance/:

Hey... that's prime, prime, prime dirt. You can't find that kind of dirt in many other places in the solar system, and who knows in how many places beyond.

Ann

[geckzilla]

That's topsoil, not dirt. Plain dirt is rather ubiquitous.

[Ann]

Source: http://thecompassedge.net/archives/00000070.shtml

So some of our dirt is topsoil. Not bad!

I'd rather plow the land here than on Mars.

Ann

[neufer]

Dirtball: (slang, derogatory) A dirty or sleazy planet.

<<Since the age of 15, The Dirtball (aka David Alexander) has dedicated himself to his music. Growing up in Oregon, Alexander quickly became preoccupied with drums and would be the rhythmic backbone for a number of different bands in the North West. “Crook County is actually the area where I live in Oregon. I was born and raised here, which ties into the record and how I’m bringing it back to my roots. I have a lot of old friends that I used to play with back in the day on this record and my parents have a blue grass band so they made it onto a track.”>>

[owlice]

As others have mentioned, we have a mountain range called Sierra Nevada in the US, too, and these are usually referred to/called "the Sierra Nevadas."

Half the Spanish speaking countries of the world have mountains with that name. Not very creative.

Right, but that''s not the point, or not my point, anyway. My point was that in English (at least in the US), the Sierra Nevadas are called the Sierra Nevadas, as in the title of the APOD.