Name: What was this cloud spotted over Alabama on Tuesday morning?
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What was this cloud spotted over Alabama on Tuesday morning?

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NEW!987sharesThe clouds over Alabama were especially photogenic on Tuesday morning.The National Weather Service in Birmingham got lots of photos -- both from meteorologists and from the public -- of what’s called an undular bore cloud as it passed across the early morning sky in central Alabama yesterday:Here's a pic of what's called an 'undular bore' as it passed over our office this morning. Very interesting feature to be able to capture. — NWS Birmingham (@NWSBirmingham)The weather service also shared satellite images showing it:Very neat visible satellite this morning presenting an undular bore (remnant outflow boundary) moving south along with developing thunderstorms at sunrise. — NWS Birmingham (@NWSBirmingham)Others captured it as well:Fast moving clouds this morning in Tuscaloosa, AL. ⁦⁩ ⁦⁩ ⁦⁩ — Dr. Laura Myers (@DrLauraMyers)There's a nice shelf cloud visible with the boundary moving southward toward the Bham metro this morning - but there's nothing severe with this activity. Brief heavy rainfall and some lightning can be expected. — NWS Birmingham (@NWSBirmingham)An undular bore is not especially rare, but getting such a good look at one is, according to Gary Goggins, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Birmingham.“I would definitely say it happens more often than you would think. It’s just not noticed as much,” Goggins said Tuesday.So what exactly is an undular bore, anyway?Goggins was kind enough to explain:“An undular bore is basically formed when you have rising air parcels on the front end of an old outflow boundary or gust front from thunderstorms. When the air parcels enter more stable air, that causes the air parcels to sink once again, causing the wave-like pattern at the front end of where the gust front used to be,” he said.“It’s almost like a ripple in the water. Over time it goes out to where it’s almost like a wave on the outside part of a dissipating outflow boundary from old thunderstorms.”This one formed from thunderstorms that rolled across north Alabama early Tuesday and dissipated just north of the Birmingham metro area between 6 and 7 a.m., Goggins said.“We were able to see that just as the sun was coming up and it was very well pronounced. We had tons of pictures coming in of people saying ‘What in the world is this?’,” Goggins said.Most people don’t see them more often because of timing.“Another reason you don’t see it that often is sometimes it happens in the middle of the night. This happened right at sunrise and a lot of people were on their morning commute and were able to see it,” Goggins said.The undular bore traveled southward across central Alabama and dissipated just north of Montgomery several hours later.“As the sun comes up you get mixing in the environment from the surface aloft and eventually those lower clouds in the wave dissipated because of the heating and the mixing that occurred,” Goggins said.It’s just part of summertime weather in Alabama, he added.“A lot of people think the summertime weather in Alabama is the same day to day, but it really isn’t,” he said.“You have small-scale features just like that every single day, and every single day is different.”Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.

NEW!987sharesThe clouds over Alabama were especially photogenic on Tuesday morning.The National Weather Service in Birmingham got lots of photos -- both from meteorologists and from the public -- of what’s called an undular bore cloud as it passed across the early morning sky in central Alabama yesterday:Here's a pic of what's called an 'undular bore' as it passed over our office this morning. Very interesting feature to be able to capture. — NWS Birmingham (@NWSBirmingham)The weather service also shared satellite images showing it:Very neat visible satellite this morning presenting an...

What was this cloud spotted over Alabama on Tuesday morning?

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