In the land of China, no mountain has ever had a view as significant as Huangshan Mountain. “You will have no wish to visit other mountains after you come back from a trip to Huangshan Mountain," wrote Xu Xiake, a Chinese travel writer and geographer of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), after visiting China’s famous mountains and rivers. His words still intrigue tourists at home and abroad who choose to travel to beautiful Huangshan Mountain.

Huangshan Mountain is world-renowned for its Five Wonders: oddly shaped pines, bizarre rocks, sea of clouds, thermal springs and winter snows. Some might say that without clouds, Huangshan Mountain will lose some of its spirits.

The clouds, wind and rains in the Huangshan Mountain area are inseparable, composing a masterpiece of nature. Under the interactions of winds and mists, clouds in the mountain areas are unpredictable and colorful, forming different shapes such as waterfalls and mushrooms.

The waterfall cloud

The waterfall cloud is also called the "spilled galaxy" and "flying white dragon in the sky”. It is a type of fast-floating cloud. Stratocumulus turns into streams of clouds and forms the flowing waterfall shape.

The view of waterfall cloud usually lasts only 10 to 30 minutes, thus is rarely seen by tourists.

However, influenced by the southeastern winds, Huangshan Mountain has plenty rainfalls to form waterfall clouds. A spectacular view of the waterfall clouds appeared in the sky over Huangshan Mountain on May 14.

The mushroom-shaped cloud

On the evening of Aug 7, a mushroom-shaped appeared in the West Sea scenic area in Huangshan Mountain. The cloud attracted numerous tourists to take out their cameras.

The mushroom cloud that appeared in the Huangshan Mountain area was a natural phenomenon due to the combined forces of the airflows and mists in the region.

The morning/evening glow

The sunrise and sunset glows have long been attractions to tourists at Huangshan Mountain. In the West Sea scenic area, clouds filter out the yellow, green, blue-green, blue, and purple lights beyond the atmosphere, allowing only red and orange lights to cast themselves down and paint a rosy hue to the mountain.

Technically, the morning/evening glow, or burning cloud in Chinese, refers to the phenomenon that, blocked by the clouds, allows only a certain range of wavelengths of sunlight to be seen by the naked eye. To some people, it appears as if the clouds are on fire.

The spray cloud

After a rainfall, tourists on Huangshan Mountain often see spray clouds in the sky. Clouds form into shapes of pieces of ocean spray because of drastic temperature differences in the upper air and strong air convections.

The spray cloud, rarely seen in nature, is listed as one of the 10 cloud spectacles. Others include hole clouds, roller clouds, Lenticular altocumulus and cap clouds. The fluctuation of clouds due to the temperature difference in the upper and lower atmospheres is the main reason for the occurrence of the spray cloud. Because of the different moving speeds between the cold air in the lower atmosphere and the warm air in the upper, the faster cold air will "attack" the warm air, as if the ocean waves are striking the coast, and thus form the spray clouds.

The scale cloud

The scale cloud, also called "transparent altocumulus" in meteorological terms or "cloud disposition," occurs when the air becomes extremely cold in the autumn and winter.

On Oct 6, a large patch of scale clouds appeared over the Huangshan Mountain area, attracting many tourists. The scale cloud over Huangshan Mountain is mainly seen in the autumn, foretelling clear and crisp autumn days. At the high altitude of Huangshan Mountain, the upper cloud air heads down through layers of clouds. As the air presses further down, mists evaporate under the influence of sunshine and atmospheric pressures rise, bringing clear days to the Huangshan Mountain scenic area.

By Audrey and Chen Zhilin

Photos by Xiao Yonggui and Liu Jianhu