Incredible photo captures 'extremely rare' phenomenon in Aussie outback
A spectacular cloud formation resembling a rolling set of waves in the outback has left Australians stunned - and it turns out for good reason.
A spectacular cloud formation resembling a rolling set of waves in the outback has left Australians everywhere stunned — and as it turns out, the incredible sight is actually an "extremely rare phenomenon".
A South Australian resident uploaded footage of the unbelievable cloud pattern online earlier this week, showing almost a dozen "wave-like" clouds sweeping across Coober Pedy, a tiny outback town in the in the state's north.
The SA resident said they'd been living in the region for a year and "sunrise, sunsets and night skies never stop being amazing". "Pulled over at weird angle on side of dirt road to take [the picture]," the local wrote on social media.
Aussies stunned by 'absolutely gorgeous' outback snap
"Nature did all the heavy lifting, I just pulled over and snapped a pic with my S22." The remarkable formation unsurprisingly attracted an onslaught of responses from astonished Australians, many people questioning how such an occurrence took place.
"Surfing them later today?" one person joked. "That's a really cool shot," another wrote. "The waves have truly come to life in the sky — epic post," someone else said. "Absolutely gorgeous! It looks like they're just flying along in a strong wind," a fourth said.
What are Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds?
While undoubtably beautiful, the formation is actually an extremely rare phenomenon — Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds, according to weather bureaus around the world.
Martin Singh, from the School of Earth, Atmosphere, and Environment at Monash University earlier explained to Yahoo News Australia what's taking place here.
"Essentially we are seeing the way the air is moving," Professor Singh said, adding that "air is moving everywhere but you just can’t see it because there’s no cloud to visualise it with".
"One layer has a cloud, and one layer doesn’t and the instability is happening on that boundary," he said.
The UK's Meteorological Office — the nation's weather and climate service — said Kelvin-Helmholtz "are one of the most striking and rare cloud types."
"Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds are an extremely rare phenomenon, where a cloud produces a billowing wave pattern," the weather authority said. "They occur when there is a strong vertical shear between two air streams, causing winds to blow faster at the upper level than at the lower levels.
"When the upper layer of air is moving at a higher speed than the lower-level air, it may scoop the top of an existing cloud layer into these wave-like rolling shapes."
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