i never saw these sorts of clouds before. what are they? what makes them?

Question

i went to NYC for the 100th anniversary celebration. as we flew over NY, i looked down from the plane and saw streams of cloud formations with blue sky in between them. it actually looked like a field that had just been plowed, ready to be planted. we bummed around NYC for a couple of hours before we got to battery park. there, we looked up at the sky, and it was STILL like that! it covered the entire visible sky. it was like that the ENTIRE DAY!

i never saw a cloud formation like that, so straight and balanced, before that or after that. what kind of clouds were these? what is this type of formation called? when does it happen, under what conditions? how often does it happen? does it happen more in other parts of the world? where and why? it was the most unusual and remarkable cloud formation/sky i ever saw in my life.

ANGELA C: the weather that day, in fact, the entire 4 days we were there (when nobody even got pickpocket) was fantastic! it was perfect! sunny, not cold, not too hot, not humid. too bad so many new yorkers left town because us yuncks from all over the country had the most wonderful time!

Answer 1

First off in Cha-cha-cha's answer
there is no such thing as cloud streets
In his answer he discribed the long type of clouds as

1; cloud streets.
No such thing

also if you the asker discribed it corectly they are Billow Altocumulus.

2; he also stated that you can thermal up to the base of them.

They are not thermal related and I Hope he is using Oxygen because even the best of glider pilots very rarely make it to that altitude this includes hang glider pilots as well as fixed wing glider pilots.

I have been Flying Gliders 5F (5 Foxtrot thats my tail number) for 25 years and I know that if these clouds are present it can be a rough ride.

What you most likely saw were Billow Altocumulus
Unusual long rolls of cloud occurring in alto or cirrocumulus due to shearing motion. The clouds indicate regions of ascending air; the spaces between the rolls indicate regions of descending air.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/srh/jetstream/synoptic/sky3_9.htm
See the cloud chart (Bottom of Page) at this link for more clouds
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/srh/jetstream/synoptic/clouds.htm

Answer 2

They may be jet streams. I have heard a deal about these. Some vapors last minutes, some hours. Some scientists say the ones that last the longest and look odd have certain harmful chemicals in them. A theroy is going around that the government is doing a secret experiment with jet streams to try to fight the effect of global warming, but also harming us on the ground. Just a guess, though. I wish I could see a picture of them...

Answer 3

Glad you asked. As a hang glider pilot, I LOVE those kinds of cloud formations. They are called "cloud streets" and that is where the lift is. You can thermal up to cloud base under one of those streaks, glide to the next one, and thermal up again. That's how we cover 100s of miles with just one foot launch. I get 200 miles per 0/gallons of gas.

They are cumulus clouds that form when the winds are blowing in just the right pattern to line them up like that. Clouds are basically a marker of where the rising air hits the dew point (where it's cold enough to condense). When I see a cumulus cloud ("cumie") I'm thinking a free elevator up to 6,000 feet. Like surfing, except you use updrafts. The sun heats the air near the ground and when it gets warm enough, it breaks off in like a big bubble of rising air. When you blunder into one of those while flying, my variometer instrument on my glider does the rest. It tells me where the lift is stronger by beeping faster and faster, so I just circle until the beeps are really fast, set my bank angle, and circle skywards like a hawk. Thanks for the question.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

Where these formations dark or white? What you might be seeing over NYC is SMOG. Pollution....... I live in Ny. Upstate and our weather is so messed up here....It will be 90 one day and seventy the next. It will snow and then rain.....The the weather in the northeast is messed up! Ask any New Yorker no matter if your in a city or not. There are litterally 20 degree differences per day.