Clouds on the Wing

This was a flight out of Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International Airport on the morning of Saturday, August 9^th.  I watched arriving planes coming out of the clouds and it looked like their wings were on fire, completely covered in smoke. That of course, was not the case. The planes were making clouds. When my flight took off I started recording with my iphone and it started just before I hit record.  Watch the wing carefully you can’t see the entire wing until after the cloud clears as the plane passes through the low cloud layer. 

 

Basically what is happening here is the water vapor in the very humid air condenses because as the air speeds up over the top part of the wing it leads to lower pressure and thus cooler air. The air is cooled enough to reach the dew point forming a cloud.

Storm From The Sky

Flying south past a storm somewhere over South Carolina or Georgia. Looking east.

I took the picture above with my iPhone camera on the pano setting.

 The top of the storm is somewhat obscured but there was plenty of definition in the lower part.

After the Spring Rain

It was a great Sunday to take a closer look after the rain. 

Interesting to see how the surface of the leaves interacted with the water. Some were completely covered with drops and others had just a few.  

Natural Sand Fence

While spending time on sand dunes on the Outer Banks of North Carolina I noticed an obvious example of a wind break or a natural sand fence. 

The grass slows the wind allowing the finer grains of sand to settle on the leeward side of the plant. 
You can think of it as nature's own sand fence. Sand fences are used to manage where sand is deposited, keeping it out of areas like roads or keeping it in areas like beaches to help control erosion.