Sky watchers in the San Francisco Bay Area, California witnessed an extraordinary display of noctilucent clouds (NLCs) on June 9, 2019. As these clouds are typically confined to latitudes above +55 N and San Francisco is at +38 N, this marks one of the…
The 2019 northern hemisphere noctilucent cloud season has begun unusually strong. Electric-blue clouds were first observed by NASA's Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) spacecraft on May 20, marking the official start of the season. "For the past 2…
NASA's AIM spacecraft is monitoring a 4 800-km wide (3000 miles) ring of noctilucent clouds circling high above Antarctica. The 2018 southern hemisphere noctilucent season began on November 21, said Cora Randall, a member of the AIM science team at the…
During the first half of August 2018, reports of noctilucent clouds to Spaceweather.com have tripled compared to the same period in 2017 and researchers at the University of Colorado may have figured out why. "There has been an unexpected surge of water vapor…
NASA's AIM spacecraft has spotted first Noctilucent Clouds (NLCs) of the 2018 northern hemisphere NLC season at the end of May. And just as they spotted them forming, people on the ground started seeing them, too. "They are back!" Ruslan Merzlyakov…
Following a delayed start to the northern hemisphere's 2017 Noctilucent clouds season, the magnificent, electric-blue clouds are now back in full effect. Noctilucent, or night-shining, clouds are a seasonal phenomenon, occurring most often in late spring and…
As the Earth continues its path on its elliptical orbit around the Sun, high latitudes and higher mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere are entering the midnight Sun season. If you go too far up north, the Sun never sets, but at a lower latitude, like southern…
Celebrating the World Meteorological Day on March 23, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has released its new, long-awaited, digitized International Cloud Atlas. The atlas is global reference for observing and identifying clouds, which are an essential part…
Polar stratospheric clouds, reported on December 9, 2016, over the skies of Kiruna, Sweden, indicate the stratosphere above the Arctic Circle is getting very cold. Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) form from the icy particles in the lower stratosphere, in extremely…
The southern hemisphere noctilucent clouds (NLC) season has started early this year and tied with 2013 for the earliest southern hemisphere season on record. The 2016/17 southern hemisphere noctilucent clouds season started on November 17 and tied with 2013 for the…
