Lenticular clouds are common in mountainous areas, and in Northern Nevada we like to call them Sierra Wave Clouds. They look like spaceships or a stack of pancakes. They also look like a lens, hence their name. Sierra Wave Clouds are cool to look at, but pilots avoid them, because they are indicative of a lot of turbulence. They can also be a sign that a storm is coming.
In order for lenticular clouds to form the air has to be stable, it has to be windy, there needs to be moisture in the mid levels, and there needs to be something like a mountain to disturb the air flow aloft. We have all of the ingredients this week for that to happen in the Truckee Meadows.
Sierra Wave clouds can form standing alone and spin in the same spot over and over again. They can also form in bands. They can look really neat at sunrise and sunset with all of the pretty colors like pink and orange. You can sometimes see them on satellite as well.
Gravity waves are eddies in the air with sinking and rising air. In order to have Sierra Wave Clouds there also has to be gravity waves, which are not visible to the eye, unless clouds form. On a satellite they look like rows of clouds with breaks in between. An example of this is eddies in a river. When you have a rock in the river it disturbs the water flow.
