{"id":38387,"date":"2016-04-15T06:10:04","date_gmt":"2016-04-15T12:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=38387"},"modified":"2026-04-03T05:11:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T10:11:59","slug":"kelvin-helmholtz-wave-clouds-over-the-wasatch-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/04\/15\/kelvin-helmholtz-wave-clouds-over-the-wasatch-mountains\/","title":{"rendered":"Kelvin-Helmholtz Wave Clouds Over the Wasatch Mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WasatchWasatch Mountains and Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds – Nikon D300, f10, 1\/400, ISO 400, +1.7 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 65mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

On April 5th I was on Antelope Island State Park photographing birds and bison<\/span><\/a> in variable lighting conditions plus there was a weather front coming in and the air aloft was unstable. People who live near mountains have a saying that goes “mountains make their own weather” and typically here in northern Utah that means that the clouds gather over the mountain tops and they did that day. While traveling to the south end of the island I noticed the beginnings of a wave cloud formation over the snow-capped Wasatch Mountain Range to the east.<\/p>\n

\"WaveWave Cloud Formation over snow-capped Wasatch Range – Nikon D300, f10, 1\/320, ISO 400, +1.7 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 112mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

When I reached the Garr Ranch area at the south end of the island I simply had to jump out and take images of the wave clouds or as they are also known, Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability Clouds.<\/p>\n

About these clouds from earthsky.org<\/span><\/a>:<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll often see the characteristic wave structure in this type of cloud when two different layers of air in our atmosphere are moving at different speeds. The upper layers of air are moving at higher speeds and will often scoop the top of the cloud layer into these wave-like rolling structures.<\/em><\/p>\n

The clouds often form on windy days, when there\u2019s a difference in densities of the air, for example, during a temperature inversion. They\u2019re often good indicators of atmospheric instability and the presence of turbulence for aircraft.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s widely believed that these waves in the sky inspired the swirls in van Gogh\u2019s masterpiece Starry Night.<\/em><\/p>\n

The clouds I saw on April 5th didn’t have as much of a pronounced wave top as the wave cloud formations<\/span><\/a> I had seen on November 26th of 2015. That isn’t unusual because the clouds and conditions were different.<\/p>\n

This particular wave cloud formation didn’t last long and a few minutes later when I stopped to photograph them again further north on the island the waves were breaking up and by the time I got half way to the north end of the island the cloud waves were completely gone.<\/p>\n

When I am out photographing birds I always look for other animals, flowers, insects and I also keep an eye on the sky. Seeing the Kelvin-Helmholtz wave clouds over the Wasatch Mountains as viewed from the south end of Antelope Island State Park made my day.<\/p>\n

I hope that one day I will be able to photograph these wave cloud formations at sunrise or sunset when the clouds are kissed with gorgeous colors. Until then…<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

P.S; There are plenty of clouds here this morning and a mixture of snow and rain may fall throughout the day. That is April along the Wasatch Front.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seeing the Kelvin-Helmholtz wave clouds over the Wasatch Mountains as viewed from the south end of Antelope Island State Park made my day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":173967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,1022,26,7641],"tags":[4764,5091,5093,5092,4176,4766,7640],"class_list":["post-38387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-davis-county-utah","category-utah","category-weather-phenomena","tag-cloud-formations","tag-kelvin-helmholtz-clouds","tag-kelvin-helmholtz-instability-clouds","tag-kelvin-helmholtz-wave-clouds","tag-wasatch-mountains","tag-wave-clouds","tag-weather-phenomena"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/kelvin-helmholtz-clouds-mia-mcpherson-9447.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-9Z9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":33530,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/11\/27\/snow-on-antelope-island-and-wave-cloud-formations\/","url_meta":{"origin":38387,"position":0},"title":"Snow on Antelope Island and Wave Cloud Formations","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"On the way to Farmington Bay WMA heading south on I-15 I saw some strange, wave cloud formations over the Wasatch Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Kelvin Helmholtz clouds over the Wasatch Mountains, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/kelvin-helmholtz-cloud-i-15-mia-mcpherson-8962.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/kelvin-helmholtz-cloud-i-15-mia-mcpherson-8962.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/kelvin-helmholtz-cloud-i-15-mia-mcpherson-8962.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/kelvin-helmholtz-cloud-i-15-mia-mcpherson-8962.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4866,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/04\/24\/virga\/","url_meta":{"origin":38387,"position":1},"title":"Virga","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Once again the weather forecasters blew it. Their predictions were wrong. They missed the boat. If weather predictions were a dice game... they crapped out.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Virga from the causeway after leaving Antelope Island, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/virga-mia-mcpherson-7085.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/virga-mia-mcpherson-7085.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/virga-mia-mcpherson-7085.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/virga-mia-mcpherson-7085.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46120,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/04\/10\/my-first-of-year-swainsons-hawk-and-april-snow-on-antelope-island\/","url_meta":{"origin":38387,"position":2},"title":"My First of Year Swainson’s Hawk and April Snow on Antelope Island","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"My best find of the day was my first of the year Swainson's Hawk about two thirds of the way down the island perched in some trees near a freshwater spring.","rel":"","context":"In "American Bison"","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"First of Year Swainson's Hawk with snowy mountains in the background","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/swainsons-hawk-snow-mia-mcpherson-4962.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/swainsons-hawk-snow-mia-mcpherson-4962.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/swainsons-hawk-snow-mia-mcpherson-4962.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/swainsons-hawk-snow-mia-mcpherson-4962.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19882,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/02\/10\/a-stormy-day-on-antelope-island-state-park\/","url_meta":{"origin":38387,"position":3},"title":"Stormy day on Antelope Island State Park","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I had left my camera at home that had a wide angle lens so I brought out my cell phone and took images with it of the stormy weather over Antelope Island State Park.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"View from Frary Peak Trail head as the storm moves south, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/antelope-island-storm-mia-mcpherson-1304.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/antelope-island-storm-mia-mcpherson-1304.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/antelope-island-storm-mia-mcpherson-1304.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/antelope-island-storm-mia-mcpherson-1304.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14256,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/02\/08\/a-song-dog-and-a-sun-dog-on-the-same-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":38387,"position":4},"title":"Song Dog And A Sun Dog On The Same Day!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't see Sun Dogs all that often in the warmer months; though they do occur all year long, but I do see them quite often during the winter and when I can I like to take images of them.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sun Dog on February 5, 2014. 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