Active Rain PhotoBlogger Group - Virga

No! I don't mean Virgo, you September babies! Thought it was a typo, didn't you? LOL

No, this post is about Virga which is a weather phenomenon we often see, sometimes as a spectacular display. I was on the Eastern plains of Colorado recently, and was completely taken by the clouds that formed on the horizon. The day started out clear and sunny, and changed as the afternoon wore on.

I live in the mountains, so I have to leave my community to get out further east to enjoy the big skies of Colorado. It's worth the drive!

VIRGA

Streaks or wisps of precipitation, such as water or ice particles, that fall from clouds but evaporate before reaching the ground. From a distance, the event sometimes may be mistaken for a funnel cloud or tornado. Typically, it may fall from altocumulus, altostratus, or high based cumuonimbus.

Virga, also known as 'fallstreaks", is Latin for the word 'broom', and often looks like a wispy torn curtain hanging from the bottom of a cloud.

I might have been a storm chaser in another life....

Anyone know how if that pays? LOL