Friday afternoon was a weather watcher’s kind of day. If you were outside, you couldn’t help but notice those white, puffy, towering cumulus clouds in nearly any direction on the horizon. I watched for quite a while in my location in the Salmon Creek/Felida area trying to make out objects in the clouds.
It reminded me of one of those entertainers who make things out of those stretchy, skinny balloons. I visualized a poodle, a mouse and a hand with fingers, among other things. As I looked east over the Cascades, those cumulus clouds were impressive as well, although — being farther away — they were not as easy to observe. The clouds rose to 20,000-25,000 feet and then were capped or suppressed, developing that classic anvil shape at the top before dissipating.
Meanwhile, back to the west closer to home, lightning was detected around 3:30 p.m. in the western portions of the county. With the clouds blocking out the sun, the fun, puffy, white clouds turned an angry dark color. I have to remember that clouds are white and look black or gray only when the sunlight cannot shine through them.
What caused these cumulus and thunderhead clouds to develop Friday, you ask? Cooler air was rushing inland off the coast, wedging itself under the warm air mass and lifting the warm air, which became unstable and created the fantastic cloud formations.
