BEACHGOERS had their sunbathing briefly interrupted on Tuesday when a rare shelf cloud rolled in.
The skies suddenly turned black as a cumulonimbus storm cloud – with the shelf cloud sitting beneath it – clipped the western parishes on what had been a warm and sunny day.
It also brought with it a short-lived torrential downpour – depositing up to 3mm of rain in just a few minutes – and a blast of strong winds.
Dozens of Islanders took pictures and filmed the unusual cloud before it headed off north and fizzled away.
Shelf clouds are spectacular, low-level long and thin clouds which are associated with storms.
They form when a cold downdraught from a cumulonimbus reaches the ground and spreads out, pushing existing warm air upwards.
The air rises slightly and cools and condenses – forming a long strip of cloud.
