I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw these clouds that Guan (the other half of the indefatigable inflatable kayaker duo of Guan and Law!) sent me; I thought they must have been digitally manipulated! But they are not and are for real. They actually have a name - Mammatus Clouds; and are pouch-like cloud structures and a rare example of clouds in sinking air. Though they may sometimes appear very ominous in appearance, mammatus clouds are harmless and do not mean that a tornado is about to form; a commonly held misconception. In fact, mammatus are usually seen after the worst of a thunderstorm has passed.
This is what wikipedia has to say about them; which are reproduced here for your easy reading.
Amazing aren’t they? Have any of your folks actually seen one?
“Mammatus (also known as mamma or mammatocumulus) is a meteorological term applied to a cellular pattern of pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud, often a cumulus or cumulonimbus. Their color is normally a bluish gray, the same as that of the host cloud, but direct illumination from the setting sun and other clouds may cause a gold or reddish cast. Mammatus can persist anywhere from minutes to hours, diffusing and disappearing over time.
The mechanism of their production is poorly understood and has been little studied. The presence of very dry air beneath the cloud base is known to be a factor.
Mammatus has often been linked with the occurrence of tornadoes, particularly during the 1950s and 1960s. Though tornadic storms often produce mammatus under their downwind anvil, many weak storms and even stratiform clouds also produce mammatus. Contrary to common misconceptions, mammatus are not precursors to tornadoes, but are a possible byproduct [1].
Sometimes thunderstorms manifest cumulonimbus with mammatus. The cumulonimbus is a dark, tall, dense vertical cloud; the presence of cumulonimbus with mammatus indicates severe atmospheric turbulence. It is very common for storms producing mammatus clouds also to produce wind shear, and possibly—though less likely—ball lightning; therefore, aviators are strongly cautioned to avoid cumulonimbus with mammatus.”
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Fascinating. My youngest likes clouds. I will recommend her to visit your site.
the clouds looked like loads n loads of boobs
I saw these pictures long time ago, was really impressed to see this kind of clouds but for sure I thought it’s must be using photoshop or something.
Unbelievable! And they do look intimidating. Almost scarry.
the clouds look like droplets of milk or hmm.. a cow with mutliple nipples…
I better go back to my breakfast.
Very interesting! They could be cotton candy or cotton balls or like elle said boobs (that’s a sexy one!) or milk bubbles from the underside (if one is tiny enough to be in the drink itself) or babies behind or perhaps a guy’s front?
Oops! Imagination running too wild. Blame it on the Friday mood.
miracle8 - yeah! why not? i gotta eat too! Call wilson n sms me the time to meet.
How come clouds makes u think of curry?? hahaha!
happysurfer - this is wat elle subsequently said at the chat box - they REALLY look like udders
they are truly amazing aren’t they?
FH2o, yes, truly amazing. You know, the first glance at the pictures gave me the impression that they have been digitally-enhanced or photoshopped and I was like turned off but reading that they were not, made me look at them in a different light. Nature is indeed awesome! Thanks for sharing them.
heiyo! those clouds look like neng neng wor!
wow, now I had a second target to shoot at. Hope one day I can shoot thouse clouds in my digicam. mother nature is really amazing.
wilson - unfortunately, i don’t think we can these types of clouds here …
yeah, nature is simply amazing!
Are those truly for real?
No, actually, I believe the proper term is surreal. A sky like that would be reason enough to cancel all my plans and hide under my bed.
this is truely amazing!!! excuse me, i need to pickup my jaw.
amazing, intriguing yet overwhelming at the same time … wooo~
piffles - i’m extremely flattered by your comments … wait a minute u’re talking about d darn clouds! *sigh*
One look at those and go back in my dog house.
Surreal is the word as MM says.
Like something in a Kurosawa movie.
din know there’s such clouds til u post it up…they’re unbelievable.