The National Weather Service released a captivating satellite image Thursday of a "wave cloud" flowing over the Tehachapi Mountains and through Mojave. Miguel Miller, a weather service forecaster, wondered aloud if anyone on the ground had photographed the event. Well, it turns out the answer is yes. We got photos and a video Thursday from Mike Massee, a public relations person who lives in Mojave. He wandered the landscape with his 5D Mark II Canon camera, shooting the clouds, and taking this extraordinary footage of strong winds lifting the nose of a scrapped jet lifting off the ground in a boneyard.
Wind blown jet
Massee says the winds gusted just over 70 mph, causing the nose of the jet in this video to lift off the ground in a plane graveyard in the Mojave area. Massee said the aircraft's engines had been removed, making the plane tail-heavy, and making it easier for the wind to lift the nose.