Crimson Skies and Mammatus Clouds
In this amazing photo, we see crimson mammatus clouds over Citi Field in Queens, New York. The photograph of the intense storm was taken before the game on June 26, 2009 by Flickr user beau-dog.
Citi Field is the home baseball park of the New York Mets. It was completed in 2009 as a replacement for the adjacent Shea Stadium which opened in 1964.
Mammatus, also known as mammatocumulus (meaning “mammary cloud” or “breast cloud”), is a meteorological term applied to a cellular pattern of pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud. The name mammatus is derived from the Latin mamma (meaning “udder” or “breast”).
Mammatus are most often associated with the anvil cloud and also severe thunderstorms. True to their ominous appearance, mammatus clouds are often harbingers of a coming storm or other extreme weather system. Typically composed primarily of ice, they can extend for hundreds of miles in each direction and individual formations can remain visibly static for ten to fifteen minutes at a time. While they may appear foreboding they are merely the messengers – appearing around, before or even after severe weather. [Source]
