Thursday, September 3, 2009

Strange Clouds for Skywatch

These peculiar clouds had me running from the front yard to the back yard the other night. (Click the photos to enlarge them).

Here is what I saw over the fence in the back yard looking west.




From the front yard, looking a little further south, the darkening sky was the most delicious shade of blue that I have ever seen. It looked like this:


Running to the back yard once again, I caught the sunset colors on those strange clouds:

I hope that you Skywatchers can tell me the name of these clouds. [Later note: You will see, thanks to QuietPaths in the comments below, that these are mammatus clouds. For more photos of these and other rare cloud formations, go here.]

For clouds of every variety as seen all over the world, be sure to visit Skywatch Friday.

27 comments:

Jean (aka Auntie Bucksnort) said...

We have amazing skies here in New Mexico, don't we? Keep the beautiful photos coming!

Sylvia K said...

Don't know what they're called, but they are gorgeous and what fantastic shots you got of them! The colors are soooooo lovely! And, yes, you do have beautiful skies there in New Mexico!

Happy SSS!

Sylvia

Quiet Paths said...

Mammatus clouds. Run for cover! here's the wiki article.

clairz said...

Here's the link from Quiet Paths: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammatus_clouds

Unknown said...

they look like cotton candy.:P

aurinkoinen♥ said...

nice when you visited my pages;)and beautiful photos♥

Anonymous said...

Now, these clouds are different. Don't believe I have seen them before. Great capture!

James said...

I don't know what they are called but I saw clouds like that when I lived in Texas. Great shots, I love clouds like that.

Anonymous said...

WoW awesome shots - it kinda looks like dirty cotton candy - such cool clouds

jabblog said...

Gorgeous - and threatening - take care!

Esther Garvi said...

Wow! What cloud creations!!

Artlover said...

Wow! awesome shots. I like them very well.

Marie said...

Fantastic clouds looking like big droplets.

storyteller said...

What magnificent cloud captures and how kewl that Quiet Paths shared their name and a link so we can all educate ourselves. Thanks so much for your visit and kind words at Happily Retired Gal. Isn't retirement wonderful ;--)
Hugs and blessings,

EG CameraGirl said...

I must admit I've never noticed clouds that look like this. Strange...and very neat!

Tara R. said...

Wonderful set. Very intriguing clouds, nice capture. The colors are stunning.

lazyclick said...

Spectacular shots. It looks like fire points

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

I have seen those kind of clouds only once or twice. They are quite unique.

Maria said...

Wow... that was great! Some of them look like faces! Thanks for the cloud fun! ~Maria

Regina said...

How awesome!

Light and Voices said...

Awesome but strange sky watch shots.
jfm

Anonymous said...

Super!!!!!!!!!

Dirkjogt said...

Very nice, these mammatus clouds, and of course nice colours to see.

Inkivääri said...

Gorgeous pics and skies!

Louise said...

I think these might be my favorite type of clouds. I don't see them often in NM, but always worth it when they are here.

Arija said...

Lovely skies, those puff ball clouds tinged by the sunset are really charming.

Beth said...

Wow, those are gorgeous pictures, Clair. I've only seen mammatus clouds once---two winters ago, and they were amazing. I got pictures, too, and they don't even look quite real because the light was quite surreal looking.