A giant lenticular cloud was seen in Maryland at about 5:50 pm on March 1st, 2022. ESSIC/CISESS Post-doctoral Associate Daile Zhang captured the cloud in Figure 1 below and a video posted to her Twitter account. GOES-East also detected the cloud as seen in Figure 2 and 3.
Lenticular clouds are common in the wintertime but can be seen all year around. They are formed when the air is moving fast and forced up by topographic barriers, such as mountains. This cloud was probably formed in the mountainous area in Virginia and moved to the east.
