Permanent Tourist

The personal website of Mark Howells-Mead

Posts about Cloud inversion (Nebelmeer / mer de brouillard)

Cloud inversions (or temperature inversions) form when a layer of warmer air sits above cooler air near the ground, which is the opposite of the usual temperature gradient (where air gets cooler with altitude). This traps moisture, pollutants, and cool air below, often leading to cloud formation below the inversion layer. Being above the cloud is a regular experience in the Alps, but never gets any less magical.

  • Above the clouds en route to Beatenberg

    Random things in November

    Little photography and a big loss.

  • Cable cars emerging from a cloud inversion at Grindelwald

    Trying to communicate scale

    How to help a viewer to better understand the scale of a scene.

  • A nerve-wracking trip to Birg cable-car station

    My only cable-car trip into the high Alps this past winter season was in February. Webcam confirmation of a fabulous cloud inversion encouraged me to get into the mountains after a long abstinence. I expected the visit to be be a nerve-wracking experience thanks to so many people wearing their coronavirus face-masks around their chins,…

  • Birg to Mürren through the clouds

    Birg to Mürren through the clouds

    I’m looking forward to the new cable-cars next year. I hope that they’ll have dirt-repellent, scratch-resistant windows. (Sequence filmed in February 2021.)

  • Susten Pass, Switzerland

    The view around the corner at Susten Pass

    Finding a magnificent view of a scene I know well, by going up a little road and turning a corner.

  • Faltschen, Kandertal, Switzerland

    Dense, grey fog on the lakes in the Bernese Oberland means that it’s best to head for the surrounding hills and mountains to get above the cloud and into the sunshine. We took a drive up a road we’d never used before – an unrestricted, toll-free one for a change – and ended up high…

  • Creux-du-Van

    Yorkshire meets Switzerland in the limestone landscape of Creux-du-Van, above Neuchâtel.

  • Zugspitze

    Fear and exhilaration on the other side of the safety fence, at the absolute “Top of Germany”.

  • A day above the clouds

    Shots from a day trip to the small, local alpine ski resort of Melchsee Frutt in canton Obwalden.

  • Above the clouds

    The “Nebelmeer” (lit. sea of cloud) is a fabulous meteorological phonemenon at this time of year, caused by a band of dense cloud sealing cold air beneath it in alpine valleys.

  • Schilthorn in the clouds

    Small gallery of photos from a 2005 summer trip to the Piz Gloria revolving mountain-top restaurant above Mürren, made famous by the 1969 James Bond Film “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”.

  • Brienz Quay – print auction for Haiti

    I am auctioning off a single print of one of my photographs to the highest bidder to support the earthquake victims in Haiti.