Have you ever ever seen a cloud that seems to have rain falling from it that disappears earlier than reaching the bottom? That’s what meteorologists name virga. The phrase virga comes from Latin and means “twig” or “department.” Virga kinds in situations the place the air is dry, and infrequently heat. When there’s a layer of drier, hotter air close to the bottom, the precipitation falling from the cloud above will evaporate earlier than hitting Earth. A few of the locations you’re extra more likely to see virga are in deserts, at excessive altitudes, within the western U.S. and Canadian prairies, the Center East, Australia and North Africa. However virga can occur anyplace when the situations are proper.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Nanci McCraine captured this picture on December 13, 2023, overlooking the Ithaca and Cayuga Lake area of New York. Nanci wrote: “Night sky lit up with an orange sundown together with strange-looking clouds.” That’s virga! The precipitation falling from the clouds doesn’t attain the bottom. Thanks for sharing, Nanci.
Virga on radar
Typically, while you’re your climate app, you would possibly see what appears to be like like rain or snow on the radar, however nothing is falling outdoors. As a substitute, lookup on the clouds and see should you can spot virga. The radar is choosing up precipitation within the air which is simply not reaching the bottom. As climate.gov says:
The radar isn’t mendacity, quite, the the rain or snow isn’t hitting the bottom. When you have a dry air mass in place within the low ranges, typically rain can not utterly penetrate that dry layer earlier than it evaporates.
This graphic offers you a greater concept of how virga kinds. The rainclouds increased up within the environment are raining down, however as that moisture hits drier air beneath, it evaporates. So that you would possibly see radar indicating rain or snow, however nothing is reaching the bottom. Picture through weather.gov (public area).
Do you wish to study to determine virga while you see it? Try the photographs on this web page from our world EarthSky neighborhood. When you acquaint your self with the variations of virga, you’ll be capable of spot it in your personal sky. For those who seize a photograph of virga, submit it to us!
Pictures of virga from EarthSky’s neighborhood
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jennifer Browne captured this scene of virga and New Mexico’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains on October 23, 2023. Jennifer wrote: “Wanting west from my residence. The magic of Santa Fe sunsets.” Thanks, Jennifer! Look intently, and also you’ll see the wispy undersides of the clouds. That’s virga.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Sandi Hryhor in Blairstown, New Jersey, caught this picture of virga on March 26, 2022. Sandi wrote: “Taken on the Blairstown airport. It was utterly overcast after we left our home 10 miles away, then some sun, then it hailed, and this sky greeted us after we arrived.” Thanks for sharing!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mike Lewinski captured this view close to Tres Piedras, New Mexico. Mike wrote: “Venus and the waning crescent moon at daybreak on June 1, 2019, over the Sangre de Cristo mountains close to Taos. There’s virga close to the horizon, extending downward from the clouds.” Thanks, Mike!
Extra photographs
Virga over West Texas. Picture through EarthSky founder, Deborah Byrd.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Peter Lowenstein captured this scene from Mutare, Zimbabwe, on March 5, 2019. He wrote: “Some lingering clouds and a wierd curtain of virga left over after a late afternoon bathe produced a spectacular show simply after the sun had set beneath the horizon.” Thanks, Peter!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Right here’s a difficult one: a virga rainbow. Hazel Holby in Willows, California, captured this picture on September 29, 2021. She wrote: “Are you able to inform me how this rainbow managed to type? Thanks and love your website!” Thanks, Hazel! Les Cowley of the web site Atmospheric Optics stated: “This can be a broad bow and in addition of variable width. These counsel that it was made by virga or different small water droplets. The smaller the water drops, the broader the bow. When the drops get all the way down to mist measurement, then we have now a fogbow.” Thanks, Les!
Backside line: Be taught what virga is and the way it kinds, and see nice photographs that can assist you discover ways to determine it your self!
Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio collection in 1991 and based EarthSky.org in 1994. Previous to that, she had labored for the College of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio collection. Right this moment, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this web site. She has gained a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, together with having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she gained the Training Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the most important group {of professional} astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a power for good on the earth and a significant instrument for the twenty first century. “Being an EarthSky editor is like internet hosting a giant world social gathering for cool nature-lovers,” she says.
Kelly Kizer Whitt has been a science author specializing in astronomy for greater than twenty years. She started her profession at Astronomy Journal, and he or she has made common contributions to AstronomyToday and the Sierra Membership, amongst different retailers. Her youngsters’s image e-book, Photo voltaic System Forecast, was printed in 2012. She has additionally written a younger grownup dystopian novel titled A Completely different Sky. When she isn’t studying or writing about astronomy and staring up on the stars, she enjoys touring to the nationwide parks, creating crossword puzzles, working, tennis, and paddleboarding. Kelly lives in Wisconsin.
