Hope you enjoy!

Well hell, that needs an explanation. I have no idea what I just watched.

Jim

Nature is the most majestic, beautiful and powerful thing on the planet all at the same time. Those who believe we can control nature and the environment and not the other way around are complete fools.

That was amazing.

quote:

Originally posted by lastmanstanding:
Nature is the most majestic, beautiful and powerful thing on the planet all at the same time. Those who believe we can control nature and the environment and not the other way around are complete fools.

Collectively, we're a pretty capable bunch of ants, but anyone getting too proud should be on a ship, of any size they like, in a storm

quote:

I have no idea what I just watched.

An avalanche tearing down a narrow canyon. Fine particles of snow and ice flying everywhere.

Mother Nature at her finest.

Looks like Bob Ross playing around with his brushes again. Very cool!

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:

quote:

I have no idea what I just watched.

An avalanche tearing down a narrow canyon. Fine particles of snow and ice flying everywhere.

Mother Nature at her finest.

So, just a normal avalanche basically. Snow tumbing down a mountain.

Saw something similar years ago driving down the Powell Valley in TN.

First pic you can see it coming at a distance and the second pic the clouds were flowing over the mountain. I wish I could have gotten a video, it was really cool seeing the clouds flow over the mountain like that.

Flatlanders astonished at avalanches

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:

quote:

I have no idea what I just watched.

An avalanche tearing down a narrow canyon. Fine particles of snow and ice flying everywhere.

Mother Nature at her finest.

The thing that I'm confused about is that there is no snow in that canyon that I saw. It just didn't look like a normal avalanche to me.

Jim

That's really neat!

It is an avalanche , not mere clouds. Some details here:


https://blogs.agu.org/landslid...021/02/02/kapuche-1/

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
Well hell, that needs an explanation. I have no idea what I just watched.

Jim

A cloud avalanche occurs when a weather front crosses a physical barrier like a mountain.

The air on both sides of the physical barrier has different relative humidity, temperate, and density.

When crossing the barrier, the air flowing from the front Of the physical barrier has higher relative humidity, lower temperature, and higher density. As it encounters warmer air with higher density it Zflows down the rear face of the physical barrier, with ice crystals forming from the change in temperature along the cooler rock face on the back side of the barrier. That forms ice and snow, giving the strange phenomena in the video.

^^^^ So then it's not actually an avalanche in that case. (A normal avalanche)

Cool phenomenon.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
Well hell, that needs an explanation. I have no idea what I just watched.

Jim

A cloud avalanche occurs when a weather front crosses a physical barrier like a mountain.

The air on both sides of the physical barrier has different relative humidity, temperate, and density.

When crossing the barrier, the air flowing from the front Of the physical barrier has higher relative humidity, lower temperature, and higher density. As it encounters warmer air with higher density it Zflows down the rear face of the physical barrier, with ice crystals forming from the change in temperature along the cooler rock face on the back side of the barrier. That forms ice and snow, giving the strange phenomena in the video.

Now that's the explanation I was hoping for.
Thanks Sig2340. There's no way that was a normal avalanche.

Jim

The falling ice/rock from the avalanche tumbling down of the mountain is already displacing and disrupting the surrounding air. The shape of the canyon forces the displaced air downward, then hits the lake creating an air blast. Once it hits the lake, the air accelerates across its unobstructed surface. I'm sure some meteorologist can weigh-in and talk about the temperature effects as the ice atomizes and expands as it warms during its descent.

that was pretty awesome - never knew a phenomenon like that existed

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
Now that's the explanation I was hoping for.
Thanks Sig2340. There's no way that was a normal avalanche.

With big mountains, it can be difficult to categorize any avalanche as "normal".

Colorado has boatloads of avalanches each year. Many are not well documented, although the Colorado Avalanche Information Center does its best. IIRC there are more avalanche deaths annually in Colorado than in any other state. I have personally witnessed a handful of snow slides. I'll call them slides more than true avalanches, as the snow wasn't moving fast enough to produce airborne clouds. But one was big enough to kill two climbers in my group.

While hiking/climbing in the summer in Colorado, I've seen a number of slide areas where trees were knocked down -- but there was no avalanche debris around those trees. Generally these trees are off to the side of the main avalanche path or on the opposite side of a narrow valley. This is caused by the wind from the avalanche.

During my time as a skier, there have been at least three instances of large avalanches happening in the I-70 corridor -- the main highway from Denver to the Summit County ski areas. The snow/ice/rock/tree debris crossed I-70 and the valley floor, but didn't go up the opposite side of the valley. However, trees were blown down on the opposite side. Avalanches in Colorado rarely travel more than 3,000 vertical feet, as our slide paths aren't all that long. As such, air temps shouldn't have risen more than 9-12 degrees F from start to end of avalanche, so I think air temps have minimal effect on the air forces from the slide.

I have buddies who climbed the truly big peaks in South America and Asia. A couple of them have summited 8,000 meter peaks -- Cho Oyu, IIRC. They stated that the forces from avalanches in those regions make Colorado's slides look pretty wimpy.

quote:

Originally posted by BamaJeepster:
Saw something similar years ago driving down the Powell Valley in TN.

First pic you can see it coming at a distance and the second pic the clouds were flowing over the mountain. I wish I could have gotten a video, it was really cool seeing the clouds flow over the mountain like that.

This is a shelf cloud formations

Cold air dropping and sliding under the warmer layer below