Paragliding Tips and Tricks #7

In a effort to pump up the hashtag #paragliding, and to give inspiration to new pilots, I will start posting little things that I am learning along the way.

The topic of discussion today is Cloud Streets

• We should understand what a cloud street is
• What happens to thermals when there is wind
• What to expect when flying XC

We know, from prior studies, puffy clouds typically mark the top of thermals. So, if you are able to visualize it, its like a fire hydrant that has been broken off at the street, and you are the cartoon that is sitting on the top.

The closer to the center of the thermal that you can get the more dramatic the lift, and the higher you will be able to go.

I watched a youtube video some time back where a guy talks about finding cloud street lift and what that means to a pilot.

These guys have some great, informative lessons in paragliding. One day, I hope I can fly with these guys.

Back the the cloud street. Basically, when you see a row of clouds, you know that there is a change in the temperature or an overlap of pressure/temp that is causing the thermals to release. When this happens in a row we can look at it as a magic road to XC land.

Cloud streets are fantastic because they are like roads of the air to get you from one place to the next.

When the wind is about 15 mph, the cloud street might have breaks in the lift band, but it will still work as a magic street.

This image gives us a good idea of what is happening around the cloud street. Where there is lift, there is going to be sink. It up to you to get into it.

These images came out of this book called Understanding the Sky by Dennis Pagen:

Here is a quote from this book.
Nature has shown us how to crate adjacent cells that use the minimum amount of connecting lines with no wasted space. These are hexagonal honeycombs. We can see such honeycomb shapes approached in cracking mud, frost heaves and "mackerel sky" clouds. Thermal patterns over undifferentiated desert or water will have this honeycomb shape also as shown in the picture. here we see lift in the center of the open space and sink all around. In fact, mackerel sky or altocumulus clouds are precisely caused by thermal circulation initiated when a lifted layer of air reaches the level of instability and autoconvects. In the absence of any trigger points high in the atmosphere, the hexagonal pattern papers.
Over the years naturalist have observed a curious pattern in the flight paths of seagulls and other water birds. under certain conditions the birds soar far out to sea using circular flight paths as if they were riding thermals; at other times the birds would follow straight-line paths as if they were riding corridors of lift. After some research and experimentation it was found that in the first instance the birds were indeed thermaling in regularly spaced convection cells of the type described above. the size and the amount of heating and the height of the heated layer.

Thats all for now.

https://steemit.com/paragliding/@captainobviou3/paragliding-tips-and-tricks-6

https://steemit.com/paragliding/@captainobviou3/paragliding-tips-and-tricks-5

https://steemit.com/paragliding/@captainobviou3/paragliding-tips-and-tricks-4

https://steemit.com/paragliding/@captainobviou3/paragliding-tips-and-tricks-3

https://steemit.com/paragliding/@captainobviou3/paragliding-tips-and-tricks-2

https://steemit.com/paragliding/@captainobviou3/paragliding-tips-and-tricks-1

See you in the sky!