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A mammoth cloud that brings hope of rain at a time of extreme drought in Catalonia. That is what these photographs reflect in Las Fotos de los Lectores de La Vanguardia captured in Les Preses, in La Garrotxa, with the spectacular mammatus accompanied by hail.
Although the color of this cloud is normally bluish-grey, it can also have a reddish to golden coloration. In this case, blues dominate.
Mammatus clouds can persist in the sky from a few minutes to several hours, until they fade and disappear.
It is very common for mammatus-producing storms to generate strong updrafts and thunderstorms. That is why air navigators avoid going through storms with mammatus.
These formations were first described in 1894 by William Clement Ley, who was a pioneer clergyman in meteorology who used weather forecasts.
