Spectacular UFO Lenticular - Time Lapse

- A few times each year in Santa Clarita, the conditions are just right for these strange clouds to form. They're sometimes called "UFO" clouds because of their rounded, saucer-like shapes and hovering behavior. In the scientific world, they're known as Lenticular clouds (Altostratus lenticularis), or "standing wave" clouds, and generally form over, downwind of, or sometimes upwind of mountain ranges.

The cause is interesting... Air (wind) moves much like water - it flows over the surface of the earth and when it encounters surface features (like mountains) it flows up and over them like boulders in a river, generating ripples/rapids in the airstream above and downwind. Lenticular clouds form when moist air from lower altitude is forced up into colder layers of the atmosphere where it condenses, usually at the peaks of the air "rapids".