This photo was taken at sunset on October 10th, showing a glowing mid-level cloud over the Flatirons. The streaks hanging beneath the cloud look like virga, where rain falls but evaporates before reaching the surface. The Skew-T for the day points to a stable atmosphere with dry air below the cloud base, which explains why there was visual precipitation but no rain on the ground. Since the air wasn’t unstable enough for vertical development, the clouds spread outward instead of growing upward.

Because of that stability, the cloud edges stayed smooth and layered, allowing the warm sunset lighting to stand out. The combination of mid-level moisture, dry air underneath, and little convective motion made the cloud formation fade rather than storm, resulting in the soft, streaky structure seen in the image. The CAPE of zero supports the fact that the atmosphere was stable

Find Report here:

https://www.flowvis.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Clouds-Second-Report.pdf