This is a panorama (taken with an iPhone) of the sky over Chicago at about 3 p.m. yesterday. To see this in its full glory, click twice (in succession, but with a pause in between) to enlarge it without the marginalia. What struck me was the lighter clouds to the left, but most of all the group of “cellular clouds”—I don’t know what they’re called—in the middle. I haven’t seen those here, and they looked ominous. It turned out that they were.
The weather here, though, will improve today, and the sun is already coming out.
Mammatus clouds perhaps?
(and sub)
About twelve years ago I was driving back from Madison to Chicago on I-90. On one side of the road there were very dark gray clouds. On the other clear blue sky with a rainbow. Down where I was there was lots of wind, enough that I could see my colleague struggling in her hatchback ahead of me. For about thirty minutes I drove alternately looking at the road, the rainbow, and watching for emerging funnel clouds to my left.
Nicely done: Very dramatic!
Yes, those are mammatus clouds, which typically form on the “non-dangerous” leading side of severe storms. They can be (but are not always) a harbinger of sever events like hail, tornadoes, etc. since they originate from the same kind of storms that produce those phenomena.
Yeah we had those weird clouds here too. The weather still seems unsettled to me but I’m just glad most of the heat has gone. I didn’t ride my bike this week because of the inevitable sweating. It was just horrible with the high humidity as I have never tolerated heat and humidity well (I’m a pasty person of Celtic persuasion – I’ve evolved under cloud cover).
Great photo. Reminds me of that Bradbury tale: Something Wicked This Way Comes
Yesterday, we also had a huge thunderstorm with a lot of hail here in SW Ontario. Luckily, my garden vegetables and herbs survived it. Now the air is humid and very warm again, and I’m taking refuge in the shade. All I have to do is think of the harshest winters I’ve endured and I’m reconciled with the heat.
Yeah I keep thinking back to the winter we had with weeks of -20C temperatures and think I’m just a big fat complainer.
Let’s not overreact. Think of a sunny late September day if you must, but not -20C! Try an iced-tea an a hammock instead.
For some reason, I’m wondering if mammatus clouds can do the fandango. Very very frightening. Mamma mia!
b&
Haha thunderbolts and lightning!!
sub
I’m pretty sure they’re mammatus clouds too.