From Rochester - Some shots of a developing storm

My mother up in Rochester sent me these pictures last night. The first photo came with an explanation that it snowed a little, with some possible hail. And the first photo matches up: it's clearly Pannus, an accessory cloud that unambiguously declare the threat of precipitation. They live below big, beastly, cumulonimbus clouds, which are the ones that actually generate the rain.



These other photos are taken later, and I would imagine my mom drove...south I want to say, turned around and snapped these photos. In the foreground, there are some clear cumulus clouds (low, billowy, pillow-like) and in the background I would guess it's a cumulonimbus capillatus: a big storm cloud with a wispy, icy, striated anvil on top. There's rain on the ground, so I would guess that these photos are the back end of the cloud and it moves north. The storm cloud recedes into the distance.







Thanks Mom!