Mammatus form in the wake of the squall line in Nebraska on May 30, 2011. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com
I’m about to hit the road and head home, but I wanted to share a photo of mammatus I took yesterday in the wake of storms near Kearney, Nebraska. Our group chased the first storm that eventually spawned tornado reports and baseball hail, but the utter lack of roads in central Nebraska, and its speed, prevented us from following it. Still, in its wake, we picked up large hail that was surely tennis-ball size (I found one 3-incher even after a lot of melting had occurred). And the squall line that formed was full of dramatic structure. We got behind it as the day ended and saw the beautiful mammatus and some nice lightning – not a bad way to end three-plus weeks in Tornado Alley. I’ll post more photos in a few days, when I get home.