EDMONTON – The Global Edmonton inbox was full of viewer photos Wednesday from a spectacular cloud formation over the Capital Region.
Bob Scott was on his way home from an early-morning workout when he spotted the cloud that looked like it was straight out of a science fiction movie.
“It reminded me of the Stephen King book ‘Under the Dome,'” he recalled.
“It was quite amazing to see this cloud formation.”
Contrasted by a bright blue sky, the cloud had a clearly-defined arch and covered a massive geographic area. Scott said that the only way he could shoot the entire formation was to use the panorama mode on his iPhone camera.
Several other Global Edmonton viewers had the same problem, as they shared their best panoramic shots.
Jesse Beyer, Global Edmonton’s chief weather anchor, took his share of questions about the strange weather event.
“What we saw this morning was a mid level cloud called an altocumulus,” Beyer explained. “These cloud types are found roughly between 2,000 and 6,000 metres above the earth’s surface.”
Convection, or rising air, in the mid layers of the atmosphere helped shape the cloud.
“We typically see this cloud formation ahead of a cold front,” Beyer continued, “exactly the case we had today.”
“When we see this formation on a warm and humid day, it’s a good sign of thunderstorm activity to come.”
Thunderstorms and a significant cool down were a part of Beyer’s Wednesday forecast.
WATCH: Jesse Beyer’s long-range weather forecast
As always, when you spot weird weather in Alberta, Global Edmonton would love to see your photos. The new and improved Global Edmonton SkyTracker App now has a photo sharing feature, and as always, you can share your weather snaps via Twitter, Facebook or email at edmonton@globalnews.ca.
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