Detail from a photo by Matthew Bettleheim
I.
I'm not sure that I'd go so far as to describe virgae as my favourite meteorological phenomenon, but, like the American writer Ben Lerner, I'd certainly place these dry storms amongst the most fascinating of weather events [1] ...
II.
In brief, a virga is a wispy streak of precipitation seen trailing from the underside of a cloud, but which evaporates - the technical term is sublimates - before reaching the ground as rain, due to compressional heating, thus failing to bridge the gap between heaven and earth.
In other words, virgae are liminal events that occur betwixt and between; i.e., in that transitional zone that is neither here nor there; the realm from which jellyfish [2] and other entities that cannot easily be placed into a single category of existence have their being; the virtual space, in which everyday expectations are frustrated and anything seems possible.
Notes
[1] See Ben Lerner, The Hatred of Poetry (Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2020), pp. 99-100.
I have twice published posts on this book: once in October 2016 - click here - and once in July 2021 - click here.
[2] Jellyfish are astonishing things; composed of 95% water and lacking most of the major organs associated with animal life - such as brains, bones, hearts, and lungs - they have been drifting through the world's oceans for hundreds of millions of years and some species may effectively be immortal.
Interestingly, virga clouds are often referred to as jellyfish clouds, based on their appearance; tentacle-like structures trailing from a more substantial body.
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