Buresh

Buresh Blog: The 3 M's!: Mammatus, Mars, Moon

By Michael Buresh
By Michael Buresh

July 25, 2018 — Daily updates on the tropics: "Talking the Tropics With Mike".

The 3 M's:

(1) Mammatus [coming at us :)] .... 'tis the season for mammatus clouds.  Cool-looking "lumpy" clouds - appear as pouches in the sky.  It's a misconception that these clouds are associated with - or produce - tornadoes though it is true that mammatus are often a product of strong t'storms - but not always. The clouds are usually formed with the anvil of t'storms & are created by a combination of saturated, cooling, sinking air that then dries, warms & then rises again where condensation begins anew.  This process forms the pouches. First photo below from John McClellan, Yulee.... 2nd from Shawn Leary at JIA. The NOAA weather glossary:

Mammatus Clouds
Rounded, smooth, sack-like protrusions hanging from the underside of a cloud (usually a thunderstorm anvil). Mammatus clouds often accompany severe thunderstorms, but do not produce severe weather; they may accompany non-severe storms as well.

(2) Mars "close" encounter - closest (35.8 million miles) to earth in 15 years July 30-31.  Such a close encounter won't occur until September, 2035. But don't be fooled by the social media rumor mill that will tell you Mars will be as big as the moon -  not so!  But the so-called red planet is - & will be - easy to spot in the nighttime sky.  Image below from EarthSky:

NASA:

(3) Late July full moon - "full buck" (new buck's antlers typically emerge this time of year) .... "full thunder moon" - peak of the thunderstorm season in the N. Hemisphere... but will also be the longest - more than 1 hour, 40 min. - lunar eclipse until 2123 BUT the eclipse is ONLY visible in Europe, Asia & Africa as the eclipse will occur while it's daylight for N. America. BUT the next full lunar eclipse Jan. 20, 2019 WILL be visible across most of the U.S. with the moon high overhead in the evening. From Space.com (dark gray area on the map is where the eclipse will not be visible):

Cox Media Group

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