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Your Cloud Encyclopedia. 16-2 Notes on Clouds. Cirrus Clouds. High, ice-crystal clouds Look like wispy curls of hair Look feathery Often the first signs of approaching weather changes . Cirrus Cloud Picture. Stratus. Low clouds Usually covers whole sky
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Your Cloud Encyclopedia 16-2 Notes on Clouds
Cirrus Clouds • High, ice-crystal clouds • Look like wispy curls of hair • Look feathery • Often the first signs of approaching weather changes
Stratus • Low clouds • Usually covers whole sky • Gray blankets of clouds which often bring drizzle • Can cover high ground and cause hill fog.
Cumulus • Clearly defined puffs of fluffy clouds that look like "cauliflowers". • Look like cotton balls. • They appear in sunny, summer skies. • In the morning, they precede a storm, in the afternoon they follow a storm.
Cloud Height • Clouds are also described by their height • Cirro = high cloud height • Alto = middle cloud height • Strato = low cloud height
Cloud Height • Cirros (high) or Cirro can be used with cumulus (heap, puffy) to indicate a cirrocumulus or high, puffy cloud. It can also be used with stratus (flat, layered)as in cirrostratus to indicate a high, flat or layered cloud. • Alto can also be used with cumulus and stratus to indicate altocumulus and altostratus which are middle altitude puffy clouds and middle altitude flat or layered clouds respectively.
Cirrocumulus • Often called a "mackerel sky“ • the clouds' ripples of cloud looks like fish scales • indicates unsettled weather • form above 18,000 feet • appear as small, rounded white puffs that are isolated or in long rows. When the white puffs are in rows, they give the cloud a rippling appearance that distinguishes it from a cirrus or a cirrostratus cloud. • rarely cover the entire sky
Cirrostratus • form above 18,000 feet. • Sheets of thin, milk-colored clouds • form high up and often bring rain or snow within twenty-four hours • They often cause the sun or moon to appear to have a halo around it. • Sometimes these clouds are so thin that the only clue to their presence is a halo around the sun or moon.
Altostratus • Layers of thin, gray clouds • Can grow into rain clouds • These gray or bluish-gray clouds form between 6,000 and 20,000 feet. • Cover the entire sky over an area that usually extends over hundreds of square kilometers. • The sun may be visible under thinner sections of the cloud as a dim, round disk, known as a "watery sun“ • Usually form ahead of a storm producing widespread and mostly continuous precipitation. • Altostratus clouds do not allow enough sunlight to break through the cloud to form any shadows on the ground.
Altocumulus • Fluffy waves of gray clouds • Can bring showers or break up to give sunny periods • These clouds form between 6,000 and 20,000 feet and • Appear as gray, puffy blobs, sometimes rolled out in parallel waves or bands. • One part of the cloud is usually darker than the rest, which helps distinguish this cloud from the higher cirrocumulus clouds. • Look like "little castles" in the sky indicate rising air at the cloud level. The appearance of these clouds on a warm, humid
Stratocumulus • Uneven rolls or patches of clouds across the sky which follow a storm • Usually a sign that drier weather is on the way. • These low, lumpy cloud layers form below 6,000 feet • Can appear in rows, patches or as rounded masses with blue sky in between the cloud elements. • Color of stratocumulus clouds can range from white to dark gray.
What’s A Nimbo? • Nimbo meaning in latin rain • Nimbus clouds are the very dark storm clouds that have precipitation.
Nimbostratus • Thick, dark gray masses of clouds which can bring rain or snow. • These dark gray clouds usually form below 6,000 feet. • Are almost always associated with continuous light to moderate precipitation. • Often can last for several hours to more than a day. • The sun and moon are not visible through a layer of nimbostratus clouds. These clouds usually form in a stable atmosphere where warm, moist air.
Cumulonimbus • These are towering clouds which usually bring thunderstorms with rain, snow or hail. • High winds will flatten the top of the cloud into an anvil-like shape. The anvil usually points in the direction the storm is moving. • Watch for cumulus (puffy) clouds that start to rapidly develop vertically (up) to become cumulonimbus thunderstorm clouds. • Fronts are often called thunderheads.
