Record cold in the mesosphere causing noctilucent clouds in mid latitudes

“It’s getting cold in the mesosphere. Very cold,” wrote Dr. Tony Phillips in early June.

This development is causing noctilucent clouds (NLCs) to spill out of the Arctic to middle latitudes.

“I’ve been waiting for years to see NLCs (noctilucent clouds), and finally it happened!” reported Phil Halpert from London, England. He noticed their electric-blue ripples over local rooftops, then rushed out to photograph them over Clissold Park.

“2020 is shaping up to be a cold and wet year in the mesosphere,” says Lynn Harvey of the University of Colorado Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.

“Temperatures, in particular, are very cold,” says Harvey. “In fact, mid-latitude temperatures (35N-55N) in late May (DOY 142-148) were the coldest of the AIM record”–that is, since 2007 when NASA’s AIM spacecraft began monitoring noctilucent clouds.

I have no idea what this means to us down here on the surface of the planet, do you?

See full article and photo:
https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2020/06/09/record-cold-in-the-mesosphere/

Still happening on 6 July. Lots of photos
Major noctilucent clouds outbreak over Europe
https://watchers.news/2020/07/06/major-noctilucent-clouds-outbreak-over-europe/

Thanks to Benjamin Napier, Stephen Bird and several others for these links

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July 11, 2020 at 12:27PM

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