I've forgotten my clouds...

[Airborne Aircrew]

.., but these were over my house this evening... It was after an active front with heavy rains and some light thunder passed through but there was still some activity. All of a sudden the sky turned into all these "cotton balls"...

What do we call these clouds - because I'm stumped...

[bonajet]

Cumulus mammatus?

[Alister101]

Mammatus clouds?

[Airborne Aircrew]

Brilliant... Thanks... We had just had a severe storm warning, (something we have quite often here), and have had some magic, (read: horrendous if you don't like storms), storms in the past and we have never seen these clouds. We've even had tornadoes 20-30 miles north and seen nothing like this.

Tonight we had a very mild storm pass by despite the warnings yet we got these clouds... It has subsequently turned green, (usually a very bad sign), and now it has turned completely grey/orange but there is no real activity and looking at the radar we are very much on the back end of a line of T'storms...

It's so orange right now I took more pictures... Weirdest cloud formations I ever saw...

[A2QFI]

ISTR that wherever there are Cu-nim clouds with vigorous up currents there will be corresponding areas of down current which may produce the Mammatus type cloud.

For real anoraks may I point out

The Cloud Appreciation Society.

Check out the Kelvin Helmholz cloud

http://cloudappreciationsociety.org/...1_p1000861.jpg

[thunderbird7]

..and if you join the society, you get a certificate and a book, like my 9yo son has. He's more use than the weather radar on a 400 ;-)

[Flash2001]

Also called Cumulo Cumulus for the politically correct. TAKE SHELTER!

After an excellent landing etc...

[BarbiesBoyfriend]

The thimg to remember about 'mammatus' is that where there's mammatus, there's turbulence.

In fact, I've heard it called 'turbulence cloud' before.

There's not many absolutes in aviation , but it's always bumpy in these suckers!