A “tsunami roll” cloud phenomenon has appeared over the beaches of Portugal, mesmerizing and shocking beachgoers. This rare sighting rolled over Portugal’s beaches on Sunday, June 29, according to the New York Post.
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“Tsunami Roll” Cloud Phenomenon Sweeps Beaches Of Portugal
The humongous, ominous cloud wave swept over the water, making it look like a tsunami was heading their way. Videos of the rare incident went viral on social media, showing the cloud roll that was allegedly 150 km (93 miles) long.
One witness posted videos of the “tsunami roll” on X, describing it like a “tsunami out of a movie.” It apparently stretched from “Figueira da Foz all the way up to Vila do Conde.”
The first video showed how the clouds looked more like gigantic snow drifts. But by the second video, as the clouds inched closer to the shore, it resembled a deadly tsunami wave.
According to the outlet, this happened due to a natural phenomenon called an arcus cloud. This is better known as a roll cloud. The National Weather Service explained that these clouds are “relatively rare” and are detached “from the thunderstorm base or other cloud features.”
Roll clouds typically form after a thunderstorm front pushes out cool air. This causes the warmer, more humid air to turn into a cloud that becomes “trapped” and begins to spin horizontally. It then creates that rolled shape that you see stretching across the Portugal horizon.
This happened specifically in Portugal this weekend due to temperatures reaching over 107 degrees on Sunday, alongside heavy rainstorms forming.
The clouds may look terrifying, but once you realize what they are, they’re quite beautiful. “These clouds are spectacular,” said Paulo Ceppi, a climate science senior lecturer at Imperial College London, to The Washington Post. “They look massive, like it goes on forever, but they look scarier than they really are.”
Ceppi mentioned how quickly this phenomenon came about. “See how quickly it came?” said Ceppi. “There was a clear sky; it came in one minute.” The lecturer described Portugal’s weekend conditions as “perfect” and made sure to ease anyone’s worries.
“But it’s not particularly worrying or surprising,” Ceppi said. “There are more worrying things about climate change.”