Stunning 'cotton wool' mammatus clouds formed after a lightning storm over Iraq on Monday (June 15).
The natural weather phenomenon, resembling fluffy pouches of cotton wool or cotton candy, was seen in the autonomous Kurdistan region of Dohuk Governorate.
Onlooker named Shahi Amedi said: ''I've never seen clouds like this before. An hour before seeinh them, we experienced lightning and heavy rainfall. They were so cool and pretty.''
Mammatus clouds, meaning "mammary clouds", are cellular patterns of pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud.
For a mammatus clouds to form, the sinking air must be cooler than the air around it and have high liquid water or ice content.
