Knowing Your Clouds !

DENTIFYING CLOUDS
The best way of recognising clovds is to begin with the ten cloud types, which are classified by their forms (i.e. their ovendi shapes) and their heights. These main types are reasonably easy to identify. Other, secondary features, described later, will enable you to recognise many other varieties of cloud.
Meteorologists use a classification that is similar
to the Latin names employed for plants and
animals. Clouds are arranged in genera (the ten
types described first), species and xiarieties:
• genus type of cloud (pp.22-53)
• species cloud shape and structure (pp.54-71)
• vanety arrangement of elements
and transparency (pp.72-77

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Cloud forms
The three basic cloud forms are:
• cumulus heap clouds
• stratus layer clouds
• cirrus hair-like or feathery clouds These are also the names of three specific types. The same words, or variants, occur in the compound names for the other seven major types. The standard, two-letter abbreviation is shown at the top of the section for each type.
There was once a fourth form: ‘nimbus’ (meaning rain-bearing’). Reminders of the name remain in the types called nimbostratus and cumulonimbus, though other clouds also produce rain or snow.

cumulonimbus or cu-nimb

cumulonimbus or cu-nimb for short

cumulonimbus or cu-nimb anvil

this is caused when a cu-nimb clous stops rising and spreads out on reaching an invisible ceiling

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Cloud forms Hight Clouds
Cumulus clouds (heap clouds) are generally isolated, rounded heaps of cloud, sometimes better described as rolls or even ‘pancakes’. The type known simply as ‘cumulus’ is widely recognised, because it is commonly called ‘fair-weather clouds’. The cumuliform (cumulus-like) clouds are:
• cumulus Cu (p.22)
• stratocumulus Sc (p.28)
• altocumulus Ac (p.32)
• cirrocumulus Cc (p.46)
• cumulonimbus Cb (p.48)
Clouds often change into other types. Cumulus, for example, may rise to a certain height and then spread out sideways, combining with other individual heaps to give an extensive sheet of ~rr2rnc~1mlIlus or altocumulus.

 

hight clouds

hight clouds cirro-cumulus	hight clouds cirro-stratus

hight clouds cirrus

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low clouds

low clouds stratiform layer strato-cu	low clouds stratiform layer stratus
low clouds cumiliform heaps fracto not quite formed inot small cu	low clouds cumiliform heaps large cu
low clouds cumiliform heaps medium cu height is longer than base	low clouds cumiliform heaps small cu -large cu

medium clouds

medium clouds lenticular wave cloud	medium clouds alto-cumulus

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CLOUDS ARE SIMPLE ENOUGH
just a collection of ice crystals or water droplets visible to everyone. Yet they are a source of endless wonder. They appear in an infinite number of
Shapes and forms. Some are beautiful, some awe inspiring, and some, like the whirling funnel cloud, are terrifying. Clouds inspire artists, poets, songwriters. They have reminded astronauts, looking down from space, that Earth, a seemingly abstract orb, is a place of life and movement. Those great swirls of white-as they change shape, swell, evaporate into wisps, disappear and come back, glow with sunlight or darken with rain-are a constant reminder of how dynamic our planet is.

The Book of Clouds explains what clouds are, how they form, how they affect our planet, and how we can forecast weather just by observing them. In this book you'll find the names of clouds, learn how to identify them, and how to photograph them. Most of the pictures are from my own collection. I have been photographing clouds for much of my adult life, and have a Ph.D. in cloud physics. My knowledge of the physics of clouds and the science of meteorology has given me a great deal of satisfaction. Yet never does my soul feel so nourished as when I look up and really see the clouds-those elusive, captivating, ephemeral gifts of nature.
So, for the sheer enjoyment of it all, here are

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1. Clouds and cloudscapes are the greatest free show on earth. It doesn't cost a penny to look up and feast your eyes on the view.
2. Clouds are never exactly the same. They come and go and take on different forms. While there are four basic cloud types (cumulus, stratus, cirrus, and nimbus), nature combines them to compose endless symphonies in the skies.
3. Many skies are simply beautiful to behold. There is no other way of saying it. The gradations of light and color in the late afternoon and very early morning hours are bouquets for the eye.
4. Clouds are a billboard of Coming Attractions. While it takes a skilled eye to interpret the messages on the billboard, there is a feeling of immense satisfaction when one's own forecast is verified.
5. Observing the sky at regular intervals makes one feel connected to nature.
6. Cloud watching promotes a global consciousness. Weather satellites bring large-scale images of cloud patterns into our homes. They help us realize that "our" clouds are connected to other clouds all around the world.
7. The earth is unique because of its vast amounts of water. Clouds are made of water and are a constant reminder of its importance.
8. Water is a miracle substance. Scientists have found that simple H20 is anything but simple. Those H20 molecules link together and bring us the glorious clouds above us. Without water, there would be no clouds.
9. Cloud watching is an antidote to boredom. Clouds are ever changing, ever evocative.
10. Clouds are a magic show. Where do they come from, and where do they go? This is a mystery to the nonscientist, and an area of endless fascination.
11.