Looking at the pictures below you will probably understand why Undulatus asperatus certainly one of the most out-of-this-world cloud formation is!
These pictures are indeed more than insane!
As if the cloud vortex wanted to swallow up that house. via VK.com
A furious ocean in the sky of Oklahoma. via VK.com
Joe said:If you haven't done so, you should check out this article by Laura (July 16, 2003)
http://www.cassiopaea.org/cass/Laura-Knight-Jadczyk/article-lkj-16-07-03.htm
So, what is it? First off thanks to Jamie and Reagan Smith for sharing their video and images, captured yesterday in Ashville in St. Clair County (at I-59 and US-231).
Here are the leading ideas...
*Crown flash. Very rare, and not much is known about the phenomena.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_flash
*Sprite. Some kind of odd, low altitude, daylight version of a sprite.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(lightning)
*Pileus. An odd variation of a pileus cap, found atop some thunderstorms.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pileus_(meteorology)
Bottom line is that there is no clear answer. A reminder in meteorology, there is still much to learn about our atmosphere
I saw an interesting photograph (and close-up) on a FB group about the Electric Universe Theory, and there was some speculation about what type of phenomena it was. Taken August 9th in Ashville in St. Clair County.
Crown flash
is a rarely observed weather phenomenon involving "The brightening of a thunderhead crown followed by the appearance of aurora-like streamers emanating into the clear atmosphere".[1] The current hypothesis for why the phenomenon occurs is that sunlight is reflecting off or refracting through tiny ice crystals above the crown of a cumulonimbus cloud. These ice crystals are aligned by the strong electro-magnetic effects around the cloud,[2] so the effect may appear as a tall streamer, pillar of light, or resemble a massive flash of a searchlight / flashlight beam through the clouds. When the electro-magnetic field is disturbed by electrical charging or discharging (typically, lightning flashes) within the cloud, the ice crystals are re-orientated causing the light pattern to shift, at times very rapidly and appearing to 'dance' in a strikingly mechanical fashion.[3] The effect may also sometimes be known as a "leaping sundog". As with sundogs, the observer would have to be in a specific position to see the effect, which is not a self-generated light such as seen in a lightning strike or aurora, but rather a changing reflection/refraction of the sunlight.