The Sierra Nevada is an approximately 100 km wide and 600 km long quasi two-dimensional mountain range that forms part of the western rim of the Great Basin. Several factors, including the gentle upwind and steep lee-side slopes, and few upwind sources of disturbance make the Sierra Nevada an excellent mountain wave generator. The proximity of the Pacific Ocean provides the source of the upper-level moisture that gives rise to clouds atop mountain wave crests.

We have examined 1 km GOES-10 visible satellite imagery for signatures of mountain wave clouds downwind of the Sierra Nevada for the three recent cold weather seasons (October-May; 1998-2001). In this poster we present statistics of this 3-year wave-cloud satellite climatology, and discuss the predominant wave cloud types including lee wave trains and solitary wave fronts, and discuss predominant spatial and temporal frequency patterns of wave clouds in the lee of the Sierra Nevada.