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Credit & Copyright: Raymundo Aguirre
Explanation:
When do cloud bottoms appear like bubbles?
Normal cloud bottoms are flat because moist warm air
that rises and cools will
condense into water droplets at a very specific temperature,
which usually corresponds to a very specific height.
After water
droplets form that air becomes an opaque cloud.
Under some conditions, however,
cloud pockets can develop that contain large droplets
of water or ice that fall into clear air as they evaporate.
Such pockets
may occur in
turbulent air near a
thunderstorm, being seen near the top of an
anvil cloud, for example.
Resulting mammatus clouds can appear especially dramatic if sunlit from the side.
The above
mammatus clouds were photographed last month over Monclova,
Mexico.
News flash: Rare
transit of Venus across the Sun tomorrow
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Mammatus clouds - Mexico
Publications with words: Mammatus clouds - Mexico
See also: