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Mammatus

Weather
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Pouch-like or udder-shaped bulges hanging from the underside of a cloud, often associated with severe thunderstorms; in weather poetry, mammatus clouds evoke a foreboding, surreal atmosphere, signaling impending turmoil.

Detailed Definition
Mammatus clouds appear as rounded sacs or pendulous pockets beneath the base of a larger cloud, often following severe thunderstorms. Their strange, dimpled texture can make the sky seem bruised, swollen, or sculpted by invisible pressure. In poetry, mammatus offers a vivid image for foreboding and aftermath, suggesting that even after thunder passes, the atmosphere retains the shape of its disturbance.
Example
Example in poetry:
Mammatus clouds hung beneath the storm like dark pouches in the sky; “Mammatus gathered over the prairie, each rounded shadow heavy with warning,” creates a threatening atmosphere; A poet may use the unusual texture of mammatus to make the sky seem bodily or bruised; The speaker looking up at mammatus can feel both awe and unease before a storm
Additional Notes
Mammatus often follows severe storms but does not itself guarantee danger; its hanging pouches create ominous sky imagery.
Also Known As
Mammatocumulus
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