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Credit & Copyright: Laure Mattuzzi
Explanation:
What's that below those strange clouds?
Presidents.
If you look closely, you may recognize the heads of
four
former
US
Presidents
carved into famous
Mount Rushmore in
South Dakota,
USA.
More obvious in the
featured image
are the unusual
mammatus clouds
that passed briefly overhead.
Both were captured together by a
surprised tourist with a quick camera in early September.
Unlike normal flat-bottomed clouds which form when moist and calm air plateaus rise and cool,
bumpy
mammatus clouds form as icy and turbulent air pockets
sink and heat up.
Such turbulent air is frequently accompanied by a thunderstorm.
Each mammatus lobe spans about one kilometer.
The greater mountain is known to
native
Lakota Sioux as
Six Grandfathers, deities responsible for the directions north, south, east,
west, up, and down.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
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: clouds
Publications with words: clouds
See also:
- APOD: 2024 November 19 Á Undulatus Clouds over Las Campanas Observatory
- APOD: 2024 July 7 Á Iridescent Clouds over Sweden
- APOD: 2023 August 20 Á A Roll Cloud Over Wisconsin
- APOD: 2023 February 12 Á Mammatus Clouds over Nebraska
- Nacreous Clouds over Lapland
- A Retreating Thunderstorm at Sunset
- A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia