As we know, in meteorology the different types of clouds are used to know some weather predictions due to the moment. Each type of cloud has its own indicator and source of formation. One of the strangest shaped clouds is the mammatus clouds. They are a rather strange type of cloud formations that do not leave anyone indifferent. Both amateurs and meteorologists alike pay attention and take photos of the strange formations that mammatus clouds have.
Therefore, we are going to dedicate this article to tell you about the origin, characteristics and prediction of mammatus clouds.
Key features
In this case it is not the cloud type, but its possible features the most important. There are many people who are amazed by the strange and picturesque formations of these clouds. Both amateurs and professionals of meteorology pay great attention to this type of mammoth-looking clouds that sometimes appear in the sky. One of the best known examples of mammatus clouds is that of the meteorological image that was captured in Nebraska by NASA after the passage of a storm in 2004. This photo becomes one of the most representative for the indication of this kind of clouds.
The current classification found in the cloud atlas that has 10 genera, 14 species and 9 varieties, in addition to showing different supplementary features, are mammatus clouds. And it is that it is not a type of cloud but a way of presenting the base of many genres in a single type. All the genres involved are the following: cumulonimbus, altocumulus, altoestratus, cirrus, cirrocumulus, and stratocumulus. All of them can adopt this peculiar shape that consists of hanging protrusions like large or small sacks that hang from the sky. Many associate it with the mammae of mammalian animals, hence its name.
How mammatus clouds form
We are going to see what the type of formation that these varieties have depending on the environmental conditions of the atmosphere. On many occasions, they appear in the residual areas of mature storms, which means that they are moving away from the observer in his most active part. Most of the areas corresponding to the breasts can be seen within the development clouds. These clouds usually reach a huge vertical development with a typical anvil-shaped structure.
It is in the areas furthest from the active part of the cloud, which is the one with strong upward currents, that downward air currents tend to appear. It is one of the reasons why it gives rise to the formation of these striking breasts and characteristics of this cloud formation.
Throughout the entire sky we have strange clouds with capricious and even intimidating formations in many cases. Mammatus clouds have infinite bumps that form due to to the collision of strong vertical downdrafts of air. They are not clouds that themselves can form and be a differently classified type, but rather they can be formed from the clouds mentioned above. Whenever there is a downdraft that crushes it against its natural formation rise, the lower surface will result in a class of lumps or breasts that give this curious cloud formation its name.
One of the best and most striking formations occurs when a downdraft is generated in a central cumulonimbus cloud. These clouds are normally shaped like an anvil and are the ones that generate the most spectacular mammatus. And it is that from the base of the cloud they begin to hang spectacular lumps worthy of being seen.
Environmental conditions of mammatus clouds
We are going to see what the necessary environmental conditions will be for the formation of mammatus clouds. Of the most classic origin from convective type. All clouds form when warm air that is less dense than cold air tends to rise. This air rise as if it were an air bubble from the water. For this reason, the hot air that is loaded with water vapor ends up condensing when it runs into other layers of colder air and the temperature decreases at altitude. This is how it manages to form micro droplets that in turn deliver the heat energy to the surrounding environment due to the heat of condensation that causes the mass to tend even more as the process of ascent continues.
The heat that is released during condensation is exactly the same that the sun had to apply in order to evaporate from that same drop of water. This is known as latent heat of evaporation. The exothermic phenomenon is quite important and causes the ascending air jets to reach speeds of more than 100 kilometers per hour., reaching to rise to the troposphere to more than 15 kilometers of height. If there is a strong horizontal wind at an altitude of 5 or 10 kilometers, a cloud will form until it hits a jet of cold air that falls around the cloud formation, resulting in the typical anvil shape of a cloud cumulonimbus.
Mammatus are rare and spectacular. They sometimes occur after strong atmospheric phenomena have formed, such as at the bottom of cumulonimbus clouds. Although they are scary, they are harmless.
Details and omens
The part of the formal cloud of a that can become very large in proportion to the area in which the air rises. In areas that are far from strong updrafts, the air is saturated with humidity and begins to descend along with the micro crystals carried by the air mass. From here we find the formation of the breasts. Each bulge is indicating one of these air descents at the base of the cloud.
As for the omen, the presence of these clouds does not signal rain or other drastic changes in the weather. The phenomenon is quite attractive and spectacular especially at sunset when the reddened sun illuminates and contrasts all the curves of the bumps.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about mammatus clouds and their characteristics.