Have you ever aim through what appeared from a space to be an active patch of rainfall come from dense swarm cover , just to feel the soil underneath prohibitionist as a bone ? That ’s virga , baby !
Virga , from the Latin wordmeaning"rod " or " branch " , refers to the wisps attached to the underside of rain cloud that give the show of big rainfall . Unlike even pelting , however , virga lead will never arrive at the background .
Sometimes referred to as jellyfish swarm , these rainwater cloud function in the same way as ace create veritable rain , they only become virga when the droplet receive alayerof dry or warm air on their journey to the ground . This grim patch of dry , affectionate breeze causes the raindrops to melt as they pass through , stop the formation of regular rainfall .
The formations look particularly beautiful at sunset.Image credit: John Robert McPherson / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The streaks commonly come vertically beneath the cloud but canhookalmost horizontally at their ends . This can be a solution of strong hint , but ordinarily occurs as the droplets start to gasify closer to the Earth ’s Earth’s surface , stimulate the final surrender velocity of the particles to decrease as they travel .
When virgaoccursin mid or high - level clouds , the droplets consist of sparkler crystals and seem pale , while low - level virga is made up of water droplet and can appear grey in color . Fallstreak holesare a distinguishable formation of virga that can form as a issue of aircraft authorize through mid - flat cloud covering fire .
Virga formations can be quite problematic for nearby aircraft due to the formation ofmicrobursts . As the droplets vaporize nearer Earth ’s surface , they cool the breeze around them , cause the dusty airwave above to suddenly slump . These microbursts can cause moderate to severe turbulence for aircraft traveling through the weather system .
Commonly organize in deserts or at high altitudes , virga canoccurin cirrocumulus , altocumulus , altostratus , nimbostratus , cumulonimbus , cumulus , and stratocumulus swarm . And , while it is not a uncommon phenomenon , caught under the veracious lighting it can front particularly dazzling .
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