19 First Alert Meteorologist explains mammatus clouds seen in Northeast Ohio

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Hundreds of people across Northeast Ohio shared pictures of mammatus clouds Wednesday night.

Some described them as “hanging clouds” or “pockets.” One viewer even said “ive never seen anything like this....”

There was enough fascination out there that we decided to go to the experts to learn more.

“You have this warm air rising, and then all of a sudden you get this pocket of cooler air and it kind of goes in a little bit of a wave like that and so that’s what causes one little section of the cloud to seem like it’s dropped versus the other parts,” explained First Alert Meteorologist Erika Paige.

According to Paige, they’re called mammatus clouds and they’re caused by disruption in the atmosphere during a storm.

You may not see them often, but when you do, there’s no need to be concerned.

“Typically at that point you’re probably on the back side of the storm so theoretically the storm has probably already passed you by and you’re looking at it from a different vantage point,” said Paige.

That’s why several people in Cleveland saw the clouds even though the hardest hit areas were to our south.

Some people were lucky enough to get pictures of the clouds during the sunset.

“That really made them kind of pop, in a more brilliant way,” said Paige.

The next time you see something brilliant happen in the sky, send pictures to us on the 19 First Alert Weather App or through email.

Copyright 2022 WOIO. All rights reserved.