This was sent to me by “Peggy” on one of my mailing lists. Hope you enjoy the picture. It’s one of many things convincing me that St. Helens still has a lot of life left in her. 
“MT. St. Helens, which sits about 30 miles from our house as the crow flies, continues to spew ash, while it is forming a lava dome in the crater and still having minor tremors. Here, in this sunrise shot, she appears to be blowing smoke rings (and anything so benign is welcomed, given recent history.)
Picture by Brent and Jan LeBaron
What forms the “smoke rings” is the air flowing over the mountain getting pushed up higher as it goes up and over the top. The moisture content and initial temperature are just right so that the moisture condenses from a vapor to small particles at the higher altitude. When the moving air moves past the peak and comes down again, the particles evaporate back to an invisible vapor. The two “pancakes” describe that there are two layers of air for which this is happening, thus making this awesome picture possible.”
NOT Mount St. Helens
this is a picture of lenticulars over Mount Rainier — this is NOT Mount St. Helens.
Lyn
Fun!
Looks like you are right. Mt. Rainier has three distinct peaks, as shown in the photo, while Helens is completely blasted out on one side, and on the other looks more like a plateau than peaks.
Mt. Rainier:
Mt. St. Helens:
The two mountains, and the surrounding countryside, don’t look too much alike, yet given the angles, I’m not too sure. After reading your comment, though, I did some research and it looks like you are right.
—
Matthew P. Barnson
But, the problem is. That
But, the problem is. That mountain is NOT Mount St Helens. Nice photo, but it is possibly Mount Rainier, but it is definitely not Mount St Helens.
Redundancy…
The Department of Redundancy Department called. They’d like their duplicated factoid back again one more time, please.
—
Matthew P. Barnson