A Look From Above the Clouds

This morning's fog and low clouds presented a serious challenge to our high temperature forecast for today.  If the fog and clouds hung around longer than expected, that would prevent the sun from warming us up.  On the other hand, if they burned off too quickly, we would be able to warm up more than expected.

Regardless of when that process takes place, it's great to be able to watch it happen -- and even better to see it happen from above the cloud deck.  Meteorologist Chris Thompson recorded a timelapse animation of just that, and it is one of the better timelapses I've seen in a while.

The camera he used is located on our transmitter tower near Auburn, NC.  It's a little more than a thousand feet up on that tower, and as you can see at the beginning, the clouds top out just below the camera's perch.  Based on the surface observations, which measure the bottom of the cloud deck, we estimate the clouds were around 200-300 feet thick at the beginning of the lapse.

Enjoy!