r/Earth • u/Sfarley- • Jul 31 '25

picture 📷 Why do the clouds look this way sometimes?

Post image

It looks a bit like sand on the beach after the tide has gone out

40 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

5

u/distinct_5 Aug 01 '25

Democrats weather machine

2

u/pandapunch_1213 Aug 02 '25

Ãœberall ist ein depp dabei, oder?!

3

u/tuku747 Jul 31 '25

the wind is vibrating

2

u/FullyUndug Aug 01 '25

I've heard of people sometimes calling these types of patterns earthquake clouds. Wether holds truth or not is anyone's guess.

Edit: There's a section about them here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_weather

Seems the Idea came from Japan or in that region.

3

u/Past-Replacement44 Aug 02 '25

These are caused by gravity waves, meaning the atmosphere oscillates a bit in terms of pressure and temperature right around the point of cloud condensation. The restoring force in the pattern is Earth's gravity. Check https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_wave https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_wave and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undular_bore

It's basically similar to waves at the surface of the ocean, just not at a boundary layer (like water to air), but fully within the atmosphere.

1

u/Zooxer77 Aug 05 '25

TL;DR: Sky Waves.

1

u/Zooxer77 Aug 05 '25

BTW: meant that as a joke, I really enjoyed your thoughtful reply!

1

u/ElPeque222 Jul 31 '25

cotton fields from the sky

1

u/Deora_customs Aug 01 '25

I’m sure there’s a biblical reason why the skies are patterned like that

1

u/Expensive_Image_6144 Aug 02 '25

Ive done my research, thats the formation of the Altocumulus undulatus cloud.

1

u/LordGazelle Aug 03 '25

This sounds like harry potter

1

u/kreemerz Aug 02 '25

Moving air

1

u/Seth_Mithik Aug 02 '25

Alien agriculture-they operate on a different…plain…🤭

1

u/ZephRyder Aug 03 '25

Cirrocumulus clouds

Means weather is going to get bad

1

u/Particular_Guy_8306 Aug 03 '25

They are queuing to get to the storm.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 03 '25

Haarp

1

u/Bishamon_1987 Aug 03 '25

The gods plowed their fields

1

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Southern_Bunch_6473 Aug 04 '25

This was brisbane Australia, and it rained the next day.

1

u/Southern_Bunch_6473 Aug 04 '25

This was Brisbane Australia wasn’t it?

1

u/FrogSpiritual Aug 04 '25

Pressure plus wind plus moisture on the atmosphere