Cumulonimbus Clouds (Cb)

Mammatus1.jpg and Mammatus2.jpg were taken after a strong lightning in the Front Range Mountains next to Boulder, Colorado.
Mammatus3.jpg and Mammatus4.jpg show the cloud minimum level of a thundercloud. It was taken directly after an intense, short shower associated with significant air cooling which is the precondition for the formation of the mammatus dents.
Mammatus5.jpg: The clouds belong to the precursors of a Tornado cell which passed the location of the photographer shortly after it.

CuCon1.jpg to CuCon5.jpg presents views of a Cumulus congestus cloud around 9 p.m. "Mammatus" structures were built underneath. The last two images display the border of the cloud where the cloud slowly dissolved.

In the artwork "Cornfield with Cypresses" by Vincent Van Gogh mammatus dents can be also clearly noticed, especially at the right picture side. Apparently the artist had a scene in mind which was similar to the one shown in Mammatus1.jpg. This canvas was created in Saint-Remy in June 1889 and is exhibited in the National Gallery of London today.

Mammatus1+2.jpg: S. Borrmann, Rocky Mountains next to Boulder, Colorado, USA, Summer 1991

Mammatus3+4.jpg: S. Borrmann, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany, July 2001

Mammatus5.jpg: M. Ebert (University of Darmstadt), District University City of St Louis, MO, USA, 6 May 2003, in the afternoon

CuCon1.jpg to CuCon5.jpg: S. Borrmann, Ingelheim, Germany, July 2002

Vincent Van Gogh, "Cornfield with Cypresses", Oil, 72.5 cm x 91.5 cm, 1889, National Gallery von London