A Beautiful Sunset With Mountain Waves

I was treated to an incredible sunset on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound tonight! I took the below photo while kayaking in Cultus Bay facing WNW.

Beautiful sunset at Cultus Bay, Washington. Image taken at 8:03 pm facing WNW. Note the “cloud bands” in the right half of the picture; these are mountain waves.

One subtle feature (but one that really jumps out to a meteorologist!) are the “cloud bands” to the northwest, in the right half of the picture. These are due to mountain waves from strong onshore flow impacting the mountainous terrain of Vancouver Island. While mountain waves are common in the lee of the Cascades, this is the first time I’ve seen them in Western Washington in the lee of Vancouver Island.

GOES-17 visible satellite image taken at 7:56 pm 4/14/2020. Note the northwesterly flow and mountain waves both in the lee of the Cascades and in the lee of southern Vancouver Island.
Credit: College of Dupage

Just a beautiful sunset and interesting meteorological occurrence that I thought I’d share with y’all tonight.

Have a great night, and a great rest of your week!
Charlie

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