5 VMC observations obtained early February 2010 show that clouds that form in the morning disappear in the afternoon. The attached image composite shows the five individual observations at different Martian day times.
An excellent study/composition of five VMC Mars Webcam images acquired between 3-8 February 2010 and submitted by Hannes Griebel. The images provide a visual record of the changing weather over Mars' Hellas basin at different times of the Martian day, and, as Hannes points out, they: "show that clouds that form in the morning disappear in the afternoon."

Click on the Full story link to access the high-resolution version and for details on Hannes' processing. Thanks for an excellent submission! -- Daniel

Hannes writes:

Here is a little after-hours fun for all Mars aficionados out there: What's the weather like on Hellas? When do clouds come and go?

Five VMC observations obtained early in February show that clouds that form in the morning disappear in the afternoon. The attached image composite shows the five individual observations at different Martian day times.

We are looking down onto the South Pole; the big bright albedo feature is the Hellas basin. Image processing here was minimal: The images were noise-reduced, saturation-enhanced, contrast-enhanced and eventually sharpened. They were then rotated to roughly fix Mars' orientation with respect to the image frame.

Click here to access the high-resolution version.

Thanks Hannes!