Gimmer Bank Under a Thickening Sky

Back to Gimmer Bank, on the west side of Bloworth Slack in Bransdale, where a block of young woodland needed some attention. The saplings went in two or three years ago, and self-sown conifers from the neighbouring forestry have taken a keen interest in the same ground. Left alone, they will smother the lot. A sapling has no defence against a neighbour with a head start.

The morning was cloudless, the sort of blue that makes it all worthwhile. By the afternoon, cirrus had begun to drift in from the southwest, which is the sky’s way of saying something’s up.

The high streaks are most likely cirrus fibratus. The Met Office describes them as thin and fibrous, often lying along the direction of the high altitude wind. They are made entirely of ice crystals, which gives them their white colour against the blue¹Met Office. National Meteorological Library and Archive. Factsheet 1 — An introduction to clouds.https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/binaries/content/assets/metofficegovuk/pdf/research/library-and-archive/library/publications/factsheets/factsheet_1-clouds_2023.pdf.

Towards the west, the filigree thickened into a broader veil over the valley. That suggests the cirrus is merging into cirrostratus, which can develop from cirrus fibratus and spread across the sky. A sheet that thickens as it spreads deserves a second look. The sky is hinting at a change in the weather, and it rarely hints twice.

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  Met Office. National Meteorological Library and Archive. Factsheet 1 — An introduction to clouds.https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/binaries/content/assets/metofficegovuk/pdf/research/library-and-archive/library/publications/factsheets/factsheet_1-clouds_2023.pdf ↩︎