Friday, April 07, 2006
4/07/2006 06:41:00 AM

Mammatus Clouds

posted by FH2o

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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20 Comments:

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  At Friday, 07 April, 2006 Blogger Lam Chun See said:

Fascinating. My youngest likes clouds. I will recommend her to visit your site.

  At Friday, 07 April, 2006 Anonymous elle said:

the clouds looked like loads n loads of boobs

  At Friday, 07 April, 2006 Blogger Selba said:

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.

  At Friday, 07 April, 2006 Blogger agus said:

Unbelievable! And they do look intimidating. Almost scarry.

  At Friday, 07 April, 2006 Blogger Robin said:

the clouds look like droplets of milk or hmm.. a cow with mutliple nipples...

I better go back to my breakfast.

  At Friday, 07 April, 2006 Anonymous miracle8 said:

Never seen those clouds before. Amazing!
Mr Ho, care to try out the flying kick curry for lunch today? I get off early for lunch. If you're ok, I'll call Wilson. :)

  At Friday, 07 April, 2006 Blogger Happysurfer said:

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? :P Oops! Imagination running too wild. Blame it on the Friday mood.

  At Friday, 07 April, 2006 Blogger FH2O said:

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! ;)

  At Friday, 07 April, 2006 Blogger FH2O said:

happysurfer - this is wat elle subsequently said at the chat box - they REALLY look like udders

they are truly amazing aren't they? ;)

  At Friday, 07 April, 2006 Blogger Happysurfer said:

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.

  At Friday, 07 April, 2006 Blogger Wuching said:

heiyo! those clouds look like neng neng wor!

  At Friday, 07 April, 2006 Blogger Wilson said:

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.

  At Friday, 07 April, 2006 Blogger FH2O said:

wilson - unfortunately, i don't think we can these types of clouds here ...
yeah, nature is simply amazing!

  At Friday, 07 April, 2006 Blogger The Moody Minstrel said:

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.

  At Friday, 07 April, 2006 Blogger slurp! said:

this is truely amazing!!! excuse me, i need to pickup my jaw.

  At Saturday, 08 April, 2006 Blogger piffles said:

amazing, intriguing yet overwhelming at the same time ... wooo~

  At Saturday, 08 April, 2006 Blogger FH2O said:

piffles - i'm extremely flattered by your comments ... wait a minute u're talking about d darn clouds! *sigh* ;)

  At Sunday, 09 April, 2006 Blogger Momo the Wonder Dog said:

One look at those and go back in my dog house.

  At Sunday, 09 April, 2006 Blogger Pandabonium said:

Surreal is the word as MM says.
Like something in a Kurosawa movie.

  At Tuesday, 11 April, 2006 Blogger Frank said:

din know there's such clouds til u post it up...they're unbelievable.


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