Extraordinary Mountain Clouds: Part 1

Extraordinary Mountain Clouds: Part 1 – Introduction

When hiking in the Alps you have a very good chance of seeing some extraordinary clouds. Because mountains – especially if a mountain is the highest in its environment – create their own clouds. Such “mountain clouds” are called orographic clouds. And some of them have amazing characteristic shapes. In my next few blogs I’ll be explaining some common (but stunning!) cloud formations you might see on the Tour du Mont Blanc or the Haute Route:

– Mont Blanc’s hat

– The Matterhorn on fire

– A sea of clouds

But before I go into how these incredible mountain clouds are formed, I’ll first explain in this blog why you regularly see exceptional clouds in mountain ranges like the Alps.

mountain clouds
Beautiful swirling clouds dancing in the alpine sky above the Aiguilles des Chamonix, making a spectacular mountain landscape even more impressive!

Rising air

Depending on its height, a cloud consists of a collection of water droplets (low clouds) or ice crystals (high clouds) or a mixture of both. In cooling air, water vapor condenses into droplets or freezes into ice crystals, that’s why clouds often form in rising air.

There are several situations in which air is forced to rise:

  • On flat land, air rises for example when cold air slides underneath warmer air at a weather front.
  • In the mountains, air is forced up when it collides with a mountain slope. During this process the rising air cools down and becomes saturated with water vapor. This is how clouds become visible.
  • Air also rises on sunny days because it’s heated from below (convection). When the sun for example heats up rocks, this will cause warm air to rise, and that creates thermals. You can sometimes see large birds of prey and paragliders circling around on these thermals to gain height.

In short, air in the mountains is forced to rise, causing some breathtaking combinations of mountains and clouds.

Annoying or breathtaking?

Of course, clouds can also really ruin your hike. Especially if you’ve just reached your desired summit, expecting a magnificent view after a strenuous hike uphill, and you can’t see a thing due to a thick blanket of clouds. And don’t even think about rainy and stormy weather! But clouds can also give your mountain experience an extra dimension, they can make a spectacular mountain landscape even more impressive. I truly hope you get to see some phenomenal clouds when hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc or the Chamonix to Zermatt Haute Route!

Captions: Beautiful swirling clouds dancing in the alpine sky above the Aiguilles des Chamonix, making a spectacular mountain landscape even more impressive!

 

Simone van Velzen

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