National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

10 year Anniversary of Historic Windstorm: Nov 17, 2015

A historic and damaging wind storm took place on Nov 17, 2015. The Inland Northwest felt the impacts far and wide of the strong and damaging winds. Read More >

Wave clouds (or gravity waves): These form when stable air moves over a raised land feature, such as hills or mountains, and is forced upward. Gravity then causes the air to fall back down, and it begins to oscillate, creating that ripple effect. 

 

 

This visible satellite image was taken at 400 pm PDT 9 Sep 2000. The cloud lines oriented north to south are wave clouds. They are the result of west-to-east wind flowing over the Cascade mountains of Washington and the Rocky Mountains of Montana and Alberta.