APOD: An Iridescent Pileus Cloud over China (2022 Sep 06)

[APOD Robot]

An Iridescent Pileus Cloud over China

Explanation: Yes, but how many dark clouds have a multicolored lining? Pictured, behind this darker cloud, is a pileus iridescent cloud, a group of water droplets that have a uniformly similar size and so together diffract different colors of sunlight by different amounts. The featured image was taken last month in Pu'er, Yunnan Province, China. Also captured were unusual cloud ripples above the pileus cloud. The formation of a rare pileus cloud capping a common cumulus cloud is an indication that the lower cloud is expanding upward and might well develop into a storm.

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[Ann]

An Iridescent Pileus Cloud over China Image Credit & Copyright: Jiaqi Sun （孙嘉琪）

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Blue tit. Photo: I don't know.

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That's a magnificent cloud for sure! I'm just waiting for birds to fly over the rainbow here, but maybe they don't like the storm brewing.

But you lost me here:

Also captured were unusual cloud ripples above the pileus cloud.

What ripples? You mean that sort of dark shadow above the pileus cloud?

Ann

[De58te]

Wow in all my 60 years I have never seen a cloud like that before! (And as an old farmer I am out in the fields all day long.) If it wasn't for the color in the Pileus cloud I might think it resembles a mushroom cloud. (Thankfully I have never seen a mushroom cloud - in reality - either.)

[Cousin Ricky]

Also captured were unusual cloud ripples above the pileus cloud.

I don't see anything above the pileus cloud except blue sky.

[Chris Peterson]

Also captured were unusual cloud ripples above the pileus cloud.

I don't see anything above the pileus cloud except blue sky.

Pileus clouds are common- I see them all the time in summer thunderstorm season. Iridescent clouds are common, as well. All it takes to create an iridescent pileus cloud is the combination of an ordinary thunderhead that just blocks the Sun- a fairly uncommon lineup. Here what I see is the iridescent pileus cloud, and the shadow of the entire cloud structure being cast upwards. No "ripples".

[orin stepanek]

Iridescent Pileus Cloud; very pretty! I'd like to call it a rainbow
cloud! I've never seen one; of coarse I never looked for one either!
The cloud below doesn't look very friendly! Brr!

[Chris Peterson]

Wow in all my 60 years I have never seen a cloud like that before! (And as an old farmer I am out in the fields all day long.) If it wasn't for the color in the Pileus cloud I might think it resembles a mushroom cloud. (Thankfully I have never seen a mushroom cloud - in reality - either.)

Saw this yesterday while out riding!
_

[johnnydeep]

This APOD reminds me of this video, also recently in the news:

Incredible Rainbow Light Show Seen in Washington Ice Cave
A photographer found himself at the right place at the right time in Mount Rainier, Washington, recently when his hike inside an ice cave turned into a fairytale, as the rising sun hitting the surface created a rainbow effect. Stunning footage from photographer Mathew Nichols shows the cave beaming with color, as the sunlight refracted through ice crystals and algae on top of the snow.

[ EDIT: the first video link I used was blocked. ]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[MarkBour]

Well, I thought I might have found something that would have been helpful to this discussion, but now I'm actually more confused.
If you look at this, you can make of it what you will.

Directly from the copyright link in the APOD caption, one gets to:
https://m.weibo.cn/u/7430235891
About 20 inches down from the top, I find the entry. It has the APOD mention, and a high resolution image that looks about the same. Still I see no ripples. The entry there concurs that the image was taken from Pu'er in Yunnan Province.

I was looking around a bit more on the 'net, to see if there was some mention of additional features that might be counted as "unusual cloud ripples" in the sky above it.

1. There was a report with a still photo at:
https://www.indiatimes.com/trending/env ... 78246.html

where it is listed as having been taken in Puning City in south China's Guangdong Province.

2. That article further references a video on twitter:

A spectacular Iridescent pileus cloud https://pic.twitter.com/RrjO7T3H9m
— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) August 26, 2022

The video states it is from "Haikou city in China".

Haikou City is about 625 miles southeast of Pu'er, Yunnan, so quite far apart. Puning City, is another 445 miles northeast of Haikou.
So, three locations all over China. Are these images the same cloud? They look very similar, but I don't know. These other images do show lots of other cloud features around the pileus stack, some of which I think could be ripples!

Like I said, though, this only has me confused.