Table Mountain is the iconic landmark of Cape Town, South Africa. During the summer months, from October to March, a South Easterly wind blows, often very hard. This wind is also known as the Cape Doctor as it was once believed that it cleared the air of disease but nowadays it clears the city of smog, thus perpetuating the name.
When this wind blows, the top of Table Mountain is often covered in thick cloud, contrasting with the otherwise clear blue sky, so typical of the Cape’s summer climate. This has the appearance of a huge table cloth placed over a table of rock. The tablecloth has its beginnings as moisture-laden air blown in from the Atlantic against the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, where it is forced to rise. The air condenses on contact with the cooler summit air, forming cloud.
The cloud is blown over the mountain and down the front, where it dissipates on contact with warmer air at around 500 m above sea level, more or less halfway down Table Mountain. The overall effect is most impressive as can be seen in the two time lapse video clips that I took with my Nikon D800 camera.
