Abstract
AN interesting sunset phenomenon was visible here at 8.10 p.m. G.M.T. on Saturday last, July 22. Two very well-marked dark bands were seen rising from the south-eastern horizon across the pale pink counterglow. On the north-western horizon the tops of two very distant cumulo-nimbus clouds were visible, the tops being about half a degree above the horizon; the clouds were dark against the sunset, but their upper edges were bright. The dark bands were the shadows of these clouds projected right across the sky. The shadows could be followed for some distance from the clouds, but were not visible in the plane at right angles to the direction of sunset. They were visible for quite ten minutes after I first noticed them, by which time the twilight arch was some way above the horizon and the dark bands rose from it. The two cumulo-nimbus clouds and a small patch of cirrus were the only clouds visible; their bearings were 302° and 305° respectively. An inquiry by telephone elicited the fact that no clouds were visible at Benson Observatory, and the cumulo-nimbus must have been at a great distance. It would be of some interest to know this distance, and I should be very grateful to any readers of NATURE in Herefordshire, Wales (especially Anglesey and the west coasts), and any part of Ireland roughly between Co. Dublin and Sligo and Donegal Bays, if they could let me know the character of the weather at the time mentioned, whether any cumulonimbus clouds were noticed, and especially if rain or thunderstorms were experienced, or even merely whether the sky was clear or cloudy. I fear the weather of a week ago is not often remembered, but it is possible that some of your readers may recollect it or have recorded it.
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CAVE, C. A Sunset Phenomenon on July 22. Nature 97, 442 (1916). https://doi.org/10.1038/097442a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/097442a0
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