In and around EarthSky’s hometown of Austin, Texas – and, in fact, up into Oklahoma and other parts of the central U.S. – there was some catastrophically bad weather over the Memorial Day weekend. Those who look skyward also noticed lots of mammatus clouds over a period of several days, like these clouds captured by Anne Marie in Georgetown, Texas. These ominous but beautiful clouds can appear around, before or after storms. Anne Marie appears to have caught them as the clouds were breaking up, just as the sun was going down. She wrote:
Mammatus clouds over Georgetown, Texas.
May 25, 2015.
These beautiful pearls formed at the end of a gritty day of weather across Central Texas.
Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she won the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the largest organization of professional astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.
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