Surfer captures wave clouds near Taranaki Maunga
SUN, MAY 22
A Taranaki surfer couldn’t believe her eyes.
She was thinking about the waves and looked up to see them in the sky.
Bonnie Toopi was out on her Saturday morning walk around her Eltham neighbourhood about 9am, looking at Taranaki Maunga every so often.
It was about 9.30am, and she was ‘‘thinking of surfing’’.
The next time she looked up, there were wave-shaped clouds, which are called Kelvin–Helmholtz, forming on the southern side of the mountain.
‘‘What are the odds?’’ the Fonterra worker, who has been surfing every week since she learnt last year, said. ‘‘I thought, this is a sign.’’
Toopi has seen the clouds once before, and they were pink in colour, but ‘‘didn’t look as good’’ as what she saw on Saturday.
‘‘It was the best I’d seen it.’’
While the clouds only stayed in that formation for around 5-10 minutes, they were ‘‘perfect’’.
‘‘It looked so good.’’
Metservice meteorologist
James thought so too.
‘‘Oh, wow,’’ James amazing.’’
He confirmed they were KelvinHelmholtz clouds, and said they form when there are layers that have a ‘‘difference in density’’.
James explained there would have been different layers of air, with winds moving at different speeds.
‘‘It causes that mixing pattern,’’ he said. said.
Andrew ‘‘That’s ‘‘This is a very nice example of that.’’ He said it happens ‘‘pretty regularly’’. ‘‘If you notice it exists, you’ll start seeing it all the time.’’
But, Toopi was lucky to spot the clouds – and the mountain – when she did.
It was covered with cloud for most of the rest of Saturday, and MetService put a heavy rain warning in place from 10pm until 4am on Monday.
The weather forecast was disappointing for Toopi as she didn’t end up going for a surf around the coast as she’d planned.
‘‘I should have [gone].’’
This isn’t the first time different-shaped clouds have formed near the mountain – last year, saucer-like clouds were spotted from different parts of the New Plymouth district. And in 2019, an unusual plume of cloud drifting from the summit had many residents thinking the mountain had erupted for the first time in more than 200 years.
Taranaki Baby & Kids Expo: Find information and things to do for pregnancy, babies, toddlers and schoolaged children. Free toy corner, face painting and stories. $5 per adult. East End Skating Rink, Nobs Line, New Plymouth. 11am.
Taranaki Pet Expo: Learn about businesses, charities and organisations locally that deal with pets and pet supplies. $5 entry for adults. East End Skating Rink, Nobs Line, New
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