Mammatus Clouds

Well, I did some investigation on mammatus clouds -- not much available, I'm sorry to say -- and found out that I was somewhat misinformed about them. Here's what one site had to say about them:

"Sometimes, strong cumulonimbus clouds can have appendages protruding from the base of the cloud, which are called 'mammatus' clouds because they resemble the mammary glands of mammals. They indicate that the atmosphere is quite unstable and can also be an indicator of impending severe weather."

So, as it turns out, mammatus clouds do not necessarily portend tornadic activity, as I had heard, but do signal the presence of bad weather, although they can also appear after the worst of a storm has passed. Due to decreasing temperature within the storm clouds, the cooler water droplets in the cloud collect in pockets and cause the base of the cloud to sag in spots, forming the weird sac-like protrusions. These really are very strange-looking clouds and give me the willies whenever I see them. I took this shot just outside of the booth yesterday. (No tornadoes, I'm happy to report.)