Clouds Mammatus

"Vymeobraznye" clouds are located, as a rule, under the "parent" a cluster of cumulus or cumulonimbus clouds. Usually, the observer sees mammatus as gray clouds darker, as if hanging down elements.



However, the low altitude of the Sun above the horizon (eg at sunset) mammatusy can acquire blue-gray, gray-pink, gold, and even reddish color.



Because of its sinister appearance "vymeobraznye" clouds are often seen as harbingers of an impending storm or hurricane.



Mammatusy always associated with lightning storms and, therefore, with cumulonimbus clouds. However, these clouds can defend lightning focus at a distance of up to several tens of kilometers. Mammatus saved in the sky from several minutes to several hours, gradually disappearing with the dying lightning storm.







"Vymeobraznye" clouds are usually ice, but may also be a mixture of ice and water.



The individual "petals" mammatusov have diameters of 1-3 km at an average length of 0, 5 km. Petal exists an average of 10 minutes, but a cluster lives from 15 minutes to several hours.







To form the necessary mammatusov neighborhood moist and unstable air mass is distributed in the middle and upper parts of the troposphere (the layer of the atmosphere, the height of the temperate latitudes of 10-12 km) above the dry air mass that occupies the lower part of the troposphere.



In such circumstances, there is a system of small ascending and descending air currents against the general downdraft. These flows and lead to the formation of the characteristic forms of clouds.



Mammatus can be observed in the middle latitudes of Russia, but quite rare. They usually occur during lightning storms damped.



It is the fact that clouds are formed in the downward movement of the air, making them unique, because, as you know, cloudiness is formed by updrafts.





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