Iowa Woman Discovers New Cloud Type

Yup.

I know I'm a meteorology nerd, but I figured some others may find this interesting.

Yea, saw this on my phone yesterday actually. Apparently its not a new cloud type, its part of a subset - or so they say.

Itll be next to impossible to get a new cloud type actually verified and authenticated. Might as well create a one-off subset instead. I understand their plight but that part of science is pretty set theyve seen it all.

Yeah my guess is that they will just dub the type a name, but not really put it in a specific classification near anything else.

Example: mammatus

Mammatus clouds RULE. I LOVE seeing them. Only after violent supercells though. Man theres some amazing formations out there.

Ive seen em twice. The most recent was a couple years ago, by Camp Perry heading back from Cedar Point as a supercell rocked the area. It freaked me out but I was also quite awed.

Yeah here in Illinois, we usually get less awe-inducing squall lines, but a few times a year there will be these crazy south-moving HP supercells that usually include mammatus. (This is along with the constant pop-up storms that can sometimes turn pretty severe.) Last time we got a direct hit was a few years ago, but it's incredible to watch those storms from a distance as they ravage other areas. The lightning is constant. I'll try to get some shots for my flickr next time that happens.

EDIT: My avatar is an Illinois storm similar to what I'm talking about.

Is that a hook echo I see in it at one point? Im a weather nerd too...I watched way too much Weather Channel when I was a teen. Now I find myself watching Storm Chasers itchin for the chance to ride with them, lol.

I dont think I know anyone personally who says "dude, Ill go with you!"

^Yeah there's a visible hook echo for the first 3 frames but it combines with some other moisture for the last 2. Tornado on the ground with that cell at the time. And I too have been known to watch the show documenting the TIV (tornado intercept vehicle), along with many other severe-weather related Weather Channel shows.

[gouldy]

Mammatus? Hook Echo? [confused]

Dont hurt yourself gouldy lol

generally it's best to nod along and act like you know what the fudge people are talking about in forums, if it all gets too over your head just pull out.
we don't get interesting clouds over here in england, we get tall cumulus, i have no idea what the proper name for those are, but that's about as interesting as it gets. [:(]

[gouldy]

we have more tornados per year than America, I know that much. Odd as it sounds!

Just that most that occurr in America are great big impressive destructive things, whereas well... let's just say that the weather in this country is fairly dull, that is a good way to describe it... got mildy sunburned today, jeez!

[:)]

[gouldy]

nice one, now I totally understand what a hook echo is

^^haha, nice gif.!!!

but i used to want to be a meteorologist when i was a little kid.
i would always watch the weather channel.
id also watch the documentation with TIV, i loved watching that!!!
im not as informed about as much stuff as you, supercell and real, but i love watching storms!
we dont get very many here though. :[
im not sure if it has to do with where i live, but its like we have a bubble around us.
it sucks, i want to see more storms, lol.

Here is picture of a funnel cloud I took back in April.

Supercell - My hero. Thats AWESOME LOLOL!! You needed to somehow throw in echo into that...oh well.

A Hook echo is just when rain, hail or precipitation in general is wrapped around a point. In his picture, you see theres rain (the colors) wrapping around a dry spot. Its that dry spot where severe rotation is occuring and even the spotting of a hook echo is justification enough for the NWS to issue a Tornado Warning.

very nicely put!
nice, simple, and easy for people to understand!!!

[jayman]

man.. you guys are bumming me out .. i've seen alot of different clouds and i know theres different types, but i wish i'd known this 15 years ago when i was in the navy. i have seen sky stuff that i could never describe properly, .. thats really cool..