| These high, white clouds are composed of ice crystals, and are often blown into wisps or filaments and stretch across the sky. Their shape and texture resembles that of a horse tail. At sunset, cirrus clouds can be seen in an array of colors, anywhere from yellow to purple. |
| Also composed of ice crystals, cirrostratus clouds form long, smooth sheets. These clouds will form halos around the sun, and many times, a halo is the only indication of their presence. |
| Cirrocumulus clouds consist of organized sheets of round tufts. They can be distinguished from Altocmulus clouds by their smaller size and higher height. |
| Altocumulus clouds consist of a patterned, greyish cloud deck with a rounded shape. They appear in patches or rows and sometimes cover the entire sky. |
| Greyish or bluish sheet of coulds. Altostratus show very little texture and can be distinguished from cirrostratus by their lower height and thicker appearance. Also, Altostratus do not form halos. Altostratus and Altocumulus are often seen together and give the sky a chaotic look. |
| Featureless grey mass of clouds that sometimes produces drizzle. |
| Dark grey, featureless clouds which produce continuous rain or snow. They're responisble for those miserable days of non-stop rain. |
| Cumulus are often seen during fair weather and can be identified by their well defined base, minimal vertical structure, and heap-like appearance. They produce no precipation. |
| Rapidly growing, shower producing cumulus clouds. If you watch one of these as it's growing, it appears to be exploding upward (because it literally is). Towering Cumulus can eventually evolve into Cumulonimbus. |
| Grey or whitish cloud elements with a well defined, rounded appearence, and dark, flat bases. They are often organized into rolls or streets. |
| More widely known as thunderstorms, Cumulonimbus clouds are capable of producing heavy rain, hail, lightning, and even tornadoes. They tower high into the sky and sometimes form anvils at their tops. Cb's differ from towering cumulus because they have developed a downdraft, which allows rain to fall freely from the cloud. Once this downdraft develops, it will eliminate the updraft and the storm will diminish over time. A rare form of a Cb is the supercell. |
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| Other cloud types: Fog...I'll add it when I get a pic of it. |
| Clouds with bases above 18000 feet. |
| Clouds with bases between 7000 and 18000 feet. |
| Clouds with bases below 7000 feet. |
| Clouds classified as Low with bases below 7000 feet, but are vertically thick. |
| Smooth, rounded sack-like clouds that hang from the underside of a cloud. Mammatus are most often seen hanging from the anvil of a severe thunderstorm, but can accompany non-sever storms as well. Well formed mammatus clouds are truly a spectacular sight, especially at sunset. |
| Low, ragged cloud elements that are unattached to a larger cloud base. Also known as Scud , fractus clouds are often seen with thunderstorms and cold fronts. In thunderstorms, the presence rapidly ascending scud often signifies the area of the storm's main updraft. |
| A low, horizontal, wedge-shaped cloud that is associated with the leading edge of a thunderstorm gust front. Well defined shelf clouds are an amazing sight, and though they can look menacing, the clouds themselves are harmless. Shelf clouds are usually immediately followed by gusty winds, and sometimes heavy rain and/or hail. Notice the green sky behind the shelf cloud in photo #3...that storm contained hail up to baseball size. |
| A localized and often abrupt lowering from the rain free base of a thunderstorm. Wall clouds can range from a fraction of a mile to five miles in diameter and are usually located on the southwest portion of a thunderstorm under the updraft base. When viewed within a few miles, some wall clouds show rapid upward motion and cyclonic rotation. However, not all wall clouds rotate. Rotating wall clouds usually mean bad news because they often develop before violent tornadoes. Any wall clouds should be watched closely for any signs of rotation. |
| Look up on a clear day and you're bound to see a contrail somewhere in the sky. These long, white cloud streaks are made as hot exhaust gases from jet planes condense to form clounds in the upper atmosphere. |
| A well organized, and very dangerous thunderstorm. Supercells are able to persist for long periods of time by developing a rotating updraft, and balancing this updraft with its downdraft. By keeping the updraft and downdraft separate, the storm can continuously feed on warm, moist air. Supercells are capable of producing large hail, high winds, and violent tornadoes. When viewed from a distance, they have a well defined anvil and usually have an overshooting top. |
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