Got Mammatus???

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survival

Big Wall climber

A Token of My Extreme

Topic Author's Original Post - May 28, 2009 - 11:36am PT

True to their ominous appearance, mammatus clouds are often harbingers of a coming storm or other extreme weather system. Typically composed primarily of ice, they can extend for hundreds of miles in each direction and individual formations can remain visibly static for ten to fifteen minutes at a time. While they may appear foreboding they are merely the messengers - appearing around, before or even after severe weather.

survival

Big Wall climber

A Token of My Extreme

Topic Author's Reply - May 28, 2009 - 12:07pm PT

I know, are they freaky or what??

I've seen something very close on the North Slope of Alaska, but I've never seen any that looked quite like that!!

ydpl8s

Trad climber

Santa Monica, California

May 28, 2009 - 12:09pm PT

I've seen them like the first one quite a bit in Colorado. But, those other pictures, wow looks like the entrails of some cosmic beast!

Oplopanax

Mountain climber

The Deep Woods

May 28, 2009 - 04:40pm PT

Had them forming overhead at dawn when we climbed the north face of Plinth.

Ed Hartouni

Trad climber

Livermore, CA

May 28, 2009 - 04:42pm PT

http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=mamma1

mamma—(Also called mammatus.) Hanging protuberances, like pouches, on the undersurface of a cloud.
This supplementary cloud feature occurs mostly with cirrus, cirrocumulus, altocumulus, altostratus, stratocumulus, and cumulonimbus; in the case of cumulonimbus, mamma generally appear on the underside of the anvil (incus). See cloud classification.

hooblie

climber

May 28, 2009 - 09:59pm PT

grand canyon air traffic control tower, under contract to the faa as a weather observer, so the controllers could play video games and rest up between their twenty minute rotations doing ground control, or handling local inbound and departing flights.

in my job i would generate remarks like: CBMAM N-SE MOV W to appended to the body of the ob. cumulonimbus mammutus is a significant cloud type of concern to the aviation community and the weather forcast office alike and the controlling documents prescribe the format, etc. so we are accustomed to speaking in acronyms at least amongst ourselves.

at change of shift 7-8 controllers watched me circle the cab on the outside catwalk assessing to sky condition and appreciating a textbook display of the cloudtype in question. one woman on local, quick of wit and just returning from maternity leave was, to be fair, a good sport in an almost all male staff. i stepped into the cab thru a little hatch and as i prepared to enter my report i threw out the reckless comment, "nice mams!"

in a split second, the new mom with a mic in hand shot back, "so i've been told."

a great uproar of laughter broke out and i turned quite red. my awkward plea of innocence just made things worse.

i was "broadly" forgiven but the story made it's way to the tower manager and it came to light that i hadn't sat thru the mandatory video indoctrination re: sexual harassment in a gov't workplace. the one line that i can recall in a scenario intended to epitomized abusive behavior as seen thru the eyes of some government goon included the oh so saucy, "hubba hubba"