Every newspapers are talking about this scary cloud today. It was really a shocking view, like the end of the world. Now we know it is known as squall lines, a narrow band of active thunderstorms.
Yesterday morning (around 8am) was a normal day, only a bit cloudy. I drove to work as usual. When I approached Kota Kinabalu, I saw a weird formation on the sky. Quickly I pulled over my car in Sinsuran and took a few photos. Some say they see a Dragon in the photo below. Can you spot it? No, I didn’t Photoshop it.
I tried to take more photos but too bad the cloud dispersed. Shortly gust of strong wind came and it rained dog and cat.
News Clip
I know some of you are looking for the following cloud photo that has a dragon in it. Actually it is a faked photo created by Photoshop. It’s so funny that a local newspaper believe it is real and published it. Someone even add Avengers into the cloud LOL.
Below are some news clips from local newspapers. You can click them to zoom in:
Squall Lines in Tanjung Aru
Most people think that squall line is something rare. Actually this phenomena is common. However, it usually happens far from shore, so very few people had seen it. I had seen squall lines in Tanjung Aru Beach in year 2005. It was such a massive ring of cloud!
According to Meteorological Department, when many individual thunderstorms organise into a nearly continuous line, a squall line is born. Sometimes thunderstorms will form in a line which can extend laterally for hundreds of miles. Squall lines can produce strong to damaging straight line winds, but can also produce hail, weak tornadoes and flash flooding. The formation is due to unstable atmospheric conditions, among others, the squall lines would have formed over the ocean and moved inland.
Though Meteorological Department says it is squall line, someone say it is Shelf cloud, a type of Arcus cloud. No matter what it is, it’s quite an amazing sight.
Anyway, the weather goes haywire recently. I had to cancel a trip to interior due to heavy flood, and some airlines delayed their flight. However, when I posted the following photo of 1Borneo in heavy rain in a Facebook on last Sunday, I got over 1,000 Likes and nearly 100 Shares. Well, I don’t understand why people are so excited about bad weather.
Photos taken in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo
LOL. I can’t believe how ppl can exaggerate things out of something like that. It was like the end of the world or something. Some even suggested that ppl should come home and pray. So ridiculous. It’s only Arcus cloud. But of course, it doesn’t happen a lot in Sabah so I wasn’t surprised when people made a big fuss out of it. Beautiful to catch on camera although so many people overly photoshopped it. 🙂
Totally agree with you. The response of the public is more amusing than the cloud itself. Some say it’s bad omen while others say it is an auspicious sign LOL. Anyway, the view is quite a treat.