Anvil Top. 32 x 40.

In New Mexico when our summer thundershowers arrive, it is common to
see a cloud such as this in the early afternoon isolated from other
clouds and showing its complete anatomy in the clear air. In lower
lands the storms are more massive, but the thickness of the air hides
most of them from view. The first clouds form from bubbles of air
rising from the sun-heated desert. As the water vapor condenses into
visible droplets there is a great release of heat, and the hot cloud
mushrooms upward rapidly. The surface of the cloud evaporates fairly
quickly into the surrounding air so that it shows sharp edges and has
a cauliflower-like appearance. At about sixteen thousand feet the air
cools to the freezing point, and from that level to about thirty
thousand feet the droplets turn into ice crystals. Once the water has
turned to ice, it evaporates much more slowly, so the cloud takes on a
smoky, windswept aspect. As the upward surge slows, the cloud
flattens out beneath the stratosphere at the tropopause (thirty-five
to forty thousand feet) and the crystals trail downwind. Often this
icy crown resembles an anvil.

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