{"id":9713,"date":"2017-10-05T08:45:23","date_gmt":"2017-10-05T16:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/10\/05\/news-3486\/"},"modified":"2017-10-05T08:45:23","modified_gmt":"2017-10-05T16:45:23","slug":"news-3486","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/10\/05\/news-3486\/","title":{"rendered":"This 70-Mile-Wide Blob Over Colorado Turns Out to Be Migrating Butterflies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Credit to Author: Becky Ferreira| Date: Thu, 05 Oct 2017 16:20:13 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s a well-worn cinematic trope in which some foreboding object shows up on a radar screen, defying explanation. <\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, this happened IRL in Colorado, when the National Weather Service (NWS) radar imagery picked up a 70-mile-wide unidentified blob hovering over the Denver metropolitan area. Based on the shape and behavior of the swarm, NWS at first guessed that it might be a flock of birds migrating south for the winter.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Look at what&#8217;s flying into Denver!&#8221; tweeted the NWS Boulder office. &#8220;Radar from last hour showing what we believe to be birds. Any bird experts know what kind?&#8221;<\/p>\n<div style=\"max-width: 1440px;\" data-iframely-id=\"EBTHKML\" class=\"article__embed article__embed--iframely\">\n<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 57%;\" data-iframely-smart-iframe=\"true\"><iframe  src= width=\"100%\" height=\"420\" frameborder=\"0\" ><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><i>GIF: NWS Boulder<\/i><\/p>\n<p>But as eyewitness accounts poured in from Denverites, it became clear that this mass of living creatures was, in fact, composed of migrating painted lady butterflies.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article__media\"><picture class=\"article__image\"><source media=\"(max-width: 25em)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507219533466-Screen-Shot-2017-10-05-at-120424-PM.png?resize=400:*, https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507219533466-Screen-Shot-2017-10-05-at-120424-PM.png?resize=600:* 2x\"><source media=\"(max-width: 40.625em)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507219533466-Screen-Shot-2017-10-05-at-120424-PM.png?resize=650:*, https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507219533466-Screen-Shot-2017-10-05-at-120424-PM.png?resize=975:* 2x\"><source media=\"(max-width: 53.125em)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507219533466-Screen-Shot-2017-10-05-at-120424-PM.png?resize=850:*, https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507219533466-Screen-Shot-2017-10-05-at-120424-PM.png?resize=1275:* 2x\"><source media=\"(min-width: 53.125em)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507219533466-Screen-Shot-2017-10-05-at-120424-PM.png?resize=998:*\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507219533466-Screen-Shot-2017-10-05-at-120424-PM.png\" alt=\"\"><\/picture>\n<div class=\"article__image-caption\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>For the past few weeks, Colorado locals have been noting that these gorgeous insects, which are similar in appearance to the famous monarch butterfly, are passing through the state in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2017\/09\/20\/painted-ladies-butterflies-front-range\/\" target=\"_blank\">higher-than-average numbers<\/a> as they make their annual pilgrimage to winter refuges in the southwest United States and Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike birds, which <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2017\/10\/04\/unexpected-front-range-weather-blame-butterflies\/\" target=\"_blank\">often show up on Doppler radar maps<\/a>, it is relatively rare for insect swarms to trigger radar stations. But it&#8217;s not unheard of, as another painted lady swarm was picked up by radar in 2014, as the insects <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/weather\/2014\/09\/24\/butterfly-swarm-weather-radar-st-louis\/16147795\/\" target=\"_blank\">passed through Missouri<\/a>. <\/p>\n<div class=\"article__media\"><picture class=\"article__image\"><source media=\"(max-width: 25em)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507218695315-nws.png?resize=400:*, https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507218695315-nws.png?resize=600:* 2x\"><source media=\"(max-width: 40.625em)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507218695315-nws.png?resize=650:*, https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507218695315-nws.png?resize=975:* 2x\"><source media=\"(min-width: 40.625em)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507218695315-nws.png?resize=669:*\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507218695315-nws.png\" alt=\"\"><\/picture>\n<div class=\"article__image-caption\"><i> Radar imagery of 2014 swarm of painted lady butterflies over Missouri. Image: <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/weather\/2014\/09\/24\/butterfly-swarm-weather-radar-st-louis\/16147795\/\" target=\"_blank\"><i> National Weather Service<\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The yearly migration of butterflies, especially monarchs, is considered by many to be one of the most phenomenal spectacles in nature. Increasingly, it looks like these swarms are giving radar scientists something to marvel over too.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article__media\"><picture class=\"article__image\"><source media=\"(max-width: 25em)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507218711041-Mexmonarchs.jpeg?resize=400:*, https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507218711041-Mexmonarchs.jpeg?resize=600:* 2x\"><source media=\"(max-width: 40.625em)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507218711041-Mexmonarchs.jpeg?resize=650:*, https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507218711041-Mexmonarchs.jpeg?resize=975:* 2x\"><source media=\"(min-width: 40.625em)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507218711041-Mexmonarchs.jpeg?resize=800:*\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1507218711041-Mexmonarchs.jpeg\" alt=\"\"><\/picture>\n<div class=\"article__image-caption\"><i> Swarm of monarchs arriving in Mexico. Image: <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Mexmonarchs.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><i> Raina Kumra, nyc, USA<\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The awe-inspiring arrival of these diminutive creatures to their winter ranges, after thousands of miles of travel, has become a popular attraction for tourists.<\/p>\n<p><b> <i> Get six of our favorite Motherboard stories every day <\/i><\/b><b> <i> <a href=\"http:\/\/motherboard.club\/\" target=\"_blank\">by signing up for our newsletter.<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/motherboard.vice.com\/en_us\/article\/43a8q9\/this-70-mile-wide-blob-over-colorado-turns-out-to-be-migrating-butterflies\" target=\"bwo\" >https:\/\/motherboard.vice.com\/en_us\/rss<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/articles\/59d65400adca7d0c70b1cd01\/lede\/1507218672729-DLT6YaZUMAEny3J.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Credit to Author: Becky Ferreira| Date: Thu, 05 Oct 2017 16:20:13 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u266b Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high&#8230;\u266b <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[10643,13328,10378],"tags":[15522,15519,15524,15525,15521,15523,15526,12065,13298,15520],"class_list":["post-9713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-independent","category-motherboard","category-security","tag-butterflies","tag-butterfly","tag-doppler","tag-insect-swarms","tag-local-news","tag-migrations","tag-painted-ladies","tag-radar","tag-read","tag-weather-report"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9713\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}