Table Mountain is a wonder in its own right. She’s very much alive — the signs are always present. Whether basking in the sun, naked and unashamed or dressed abundantly in cloud couture, Cape Town’s most iconic mountain never stops giving us reason to fall in love with her.
Thanks to technology, coupled with creative minds, Table Mountain has been captured in almost every which way. Recently, a time-lapse of clouds bellowing over the tabletop has made a presence on social media.
A time-lapse is a creative filming and video editing technique that manipulates how frame rate is captured. Frame rate is the number of images, or frames, that appear in a second of video. In a time-lapse video, the frame rate is stretched out far more, so when played back at average speed, time appears to be sped up.
The thick clouds appear to be magic at its finest, disappearing off the edge of the mountain. These tapering clouds illustrate the dramatic effect that changing temperatures have on the air.
Legend attributes this phenomenon to a smoking contest between the Devil and a local pirate called Van Hunks. When the table cloth is seen, it symbolises that the content has begun.
Scientifically, the ‘cloth’ (orographic clouds), is formed when a southeasterly wind is directed up the mountain’s slopes into colder air, where the moisture condenses.
As for the disappearing act? The effect of the tablecloth tapering off into thin air has to do with the “stability” of the atmosphere.
“When the atmosphere is “stable”, any time the wind causes the air to rise to the peak of a mountain, it becomes denser than its surroundings – so, the air sinks back down to a lower height after passing by the peak,” he explains. “The cloudy air that was blown up to the top of Table Mountain is encountering a stable atmosphere, so the clouds sink back down on the other side of the peak. That is why the clouds look like they are spilling over the top of the mountain,” scientist David A. Kristovich told Inverse.
WATCH:
Andrew Rogoff shared his tablecloth time-lapse on Facebook. The results are stunning:
Thomas G gave us another clip to marvel at on Instagram:
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cape_hike_and_climb gave us a moment to process the glory with this snap:
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Picture: Screenshot / Facebook