Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Udderly Fascinating

My weekend was pretty cool.  Good times...and all that jazz....

But one thing made for a very cool moment Saturday morning.  With a quick pic on the iPhone, I saved it for my mammoirs.


Yeah, clouds. Big whoop, right? Yeah, really. Big whoop. Big.  C-cup, maybe?

Seeing them was really quite something. I was there with another fellow. Between the two of us, we knew this cloud formation had an interesting name, but we couldn't get it., despite our attempts to say abreast of nature vocabulary.   Our "mammeries" must have been failing us.  
 
While the exact mechanism still has not been explained to the satisfaction of all, mammatocumulus clouds are quite a sight.   A-pair-ently, the name derives from the Latin mammo meaning "breast" or "udder" while cumulus means "cloud."   They take on a round, sagging nature very much like a ..... awwww, come on, do I really need to explain this? 

4 comments:

david boon said...

the same type of clouds were over my workplace in downtown Pontiac in August.Evidently they precede a big storm or tornado.Really spectacular to look at!

Paul said...

Actually, Dave, according to my limited reading on the subject, they are sometimes associated with rain events, but not always severe ones. The presence of these clouds does not mean one has to seek shelter. Saturday morning was such a case. Cool clouds. A very brief shower (minutes). Then it was done!

Anonymous said...

blast that wikipedia!!

david boon said...

sorry wasnt meant to be anonymous!