National Weather Service - San Francisco/Monterey Bay Area
Noctilucent Clouds
On the morning of October 28th,rare
noctilucent clouds were visible over Monterey.
Noctilucent clouds are thin silvery-blue cirrus-like clouds frequently seen during summer twilight conditions at high latitudes (above 50°) in both hemispheres. These clouds are primarily composed of ice crystals at heights 50-70 miles above the earth's surface. (source) However, the clouds seen this morning were formed by the launch of the
NPOESS Preparatory Project spacecraft from
Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
Below are two images of the noctilucent clouds.
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