Mammatus Clouds
These images were taken over London on the 24th July 2009 @ 16:14
Mammatus are most often associated with the anvil cloud that extends from a cumulonimbus, but may also be found underaltocumulus, altostratus, stratocumulus, and cirrus clouds, as well as volcanic ash clouds.[citation needed] In the United States, sky gazers may be most familiar with the very distinct and more common cumulonimbus mammatus. When occurring in cumulonimbus, mammatus are often indicative of a particularly strong storm or maybe even a tornadic storm. These tend to form more often during warm months and over the midwest and eastern portions of the United States, and more infrequently over the west and southwest. Due to the intensely sheared environment in which mammatus form, aviators are strongly cautioned to avoid cumulonimbus with mammatus.
Mammatus may appear as smooth, ragged or lumpy lobes and may be opaque or semitransparent. Because mammatus occur as a grouping of lobes, the way they clump together can vary from an isolated cluster to a field of mamma that spread over hundreds of kilometers to being organized along a line, and may be composed of unequal or similarly-sized lobes. The individual mammatus lobe average diameters of 1–3 km and lengths on average of 0.5 km. A lobe can last an average of 10 minutes, but a whole cluster of mamma can range from 15 minutes to a few hours. They usually are composed of ice, but also can be a mixture of ice and liquid water or be composed of almost entirely liquid water.
Taken through the windscreen of my car on an iphone
Mammatus (also known as mammatocumulus, meaning “bumpy clouds”[citation needed]) is a meteorological term applied to a cellular pattern of pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud. The name “mammatus” is derived from the Latin mamma (udder), due to the clouds’ characteristic shape.
Mammatus Clouds
Mammatus Clouds like a scifi movie
No rain apart from a few drops
