Friday, April 29, 2011

Skywatch Friday - Mammatus Clouds


Leaving our church last Tuesday evening I looked up to see some very unusual clouds.  The church is at 109th St on South Yale Ave, and it was about 8:30 PM, just after sunset, and I am looking due East.  I don't remember seeing clouds like this before but a few minutes on the Internet with Google has enlightened me.

These are called Mammatus, or Breast Clouds from their udder like shape.  They typically either precede or follow strong thunderstorms and we have been having a lot of storms lately.  To read more about this interesting phenomenon there is a thorough but rather technical article in Wikipedia HERE, or a less technical explanation with lots of pictures HERE.  You see, it is a good idea to keep looking up.

More SkyWatch Friday

6 comments:

Fjällripan said... [Reply to comment]

WOW! What a fantastic clouds!

Leedslass said... [Reply to comment]

Is that unusual cloud formation indicative of all the tornadoes that have been happening?

Yogi♪♪♪ said... [Reply to comment]

Wow, those are great shots.

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

I heard of these clouds but never seen them: they are pretty rare! Lucky catch.

BTW, I like your new profile picture!

James said... [Reply to comment]

Amazing! I've only seen clouds that looked like this once, it was when I was living in Texas but they were not as defined as these.

Elleona said... [Reply to comment]

Bonsoir Bill.
Il est presque minuit ici...

Je n'ai jamais vu des nuages Mamatus mais cela ne semble rien présager de bon :-(

Je vous envoie un petit colis avec 2 petits livres et ma nouvelle adresse - je déménage la semaine prochaine à 30 km d'ici pour une maison de plain-pied.
Bisous et caresses à Smokey