The atmosphere over Star Valley on February 15, 2012, was moist and seasonably cold. The mid-February sun resulted in an interesting cloud day. Stable strato-cumulus clouds covered the valley during the morning. By early afternoon heating resulted in the clouds over the valley dissipating while even stronger heating of the higher terrain of the Caribou Range on the west side of the valley developed rather vigorous convective updrafts. Cumulus clouds quickly glaciated given the cold air aloft and snow showers then pelted the mountains. Since the steering winds were quite light these cumulus clouds remained over the Caribou Range during their relatively short life cycle. Upon cessation of daytime heating, the clouds quickly became strato-cumulus and once again spread back across the valley.
All of this rather active cloud day was captured by the web cam located in Star Valley Ranch. The animation speed of the video is 12 frames per second, with a minute between frames.
http://youtu.be/TsiXP3v1-Es
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