Saturday, July 9, 2011

Strange Clouds

We had one storm in the midst of 85 and sunny for the whole week we were at the cabin. The storm was on 4th of July night and produced the following clouds. Anyone know what they are? Very strange.

*Edit - Apparently these are Mammatus clouds:
Explanation: When do cloud bottoms appear like bubbles? Normal cloud bottoms are flat because moist warm air that rises and cools will condense into water droplets at a very specific temperature, which usually corresponds to a very specific height. After water droplets form that air becomes an opaque cloud. Under some conditions, however, cloud pockets can develop that contain large droplets of water or ice that fall into clear air as they evaporate. Such pockets may occur in turbulent air near a thunderstorm, being seen near the top of an anvil cloud, for example. Resulting mammatus clouds can appear especially dramatic if sunlit from the side.






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