An Early Bird Benefit

First Post of the Day

Score another point for me for being an early riser - I saw a rare roll cloud this morning when I was out with the dogs! 

A type of arcus cloud, roll clouds are spinning tubes like a tornado only they are horizontally oriented, not vertically.

They literally roll across the landscape, just as if you set a can down on its side on the sidewalk, gave it a push, and watched it roll away from you. Or, like a rolling pin rolling across pie dough.

Roll clouds move quickly and you can see that in the series of photos I took. Use the tree on the bottom right to monitor its progress - I was only outside for a few minutes; can you tell how fast that cloud was working its way across the sky?

They are a very rare cloud formation and are often associated with storms. And sure enough, a brief shower popped up after that roll cloud had passed over me.

The early bird got the roll cloud today!