The views stated here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors of this newspaper. We welcome supporting or opposing views on any published item. Received December 21, 2022.
I am writing regarding the front-page cloud picture in the December 8th issue of Haddam Killingworth News. I have a Ph.D. in Meteorology (MIT) and have photographed clouds in Connecticut and around the world. The clouds visible in the picture are definitely not mammatus. The definitive “Glossary of Meteorology” (2000, American Meteorological Society) defines mammatus as “hanging protuberances, like pouches, on the undersurface of a cloud.”
The 7 to 8 linear clouds visible in your photograph are called undulations and are frequently formed by faster winds overriding slower winds. A wave-shaped air flow (of several cycles) results and the cloud is in the upward moving air of each wave cycle. Cloud height appears to be in either the lower “alto” or upper “strato” region. Therefore, the cloud name is either “altostratus undulatus” or “stratus undulatus.” No “hanging protuberances” appear on the undersurface of these clouds. (If they were actually there, then “mammatus” could be added at the end of the above names).
James Fullmer, Killingworth
