Types of Clouds and Their Classification
On the grassfield, you and your best friend are having a small talk and then he looks up at the sky and says, “huftt… I want to be like the clouds, they are floating freely without any thoughts.” You reply to him, “which types of clouds do you want to be? Cirrus? Stratus? Or something else?” He might look confused with your response, so you explain to him that clouds have many types and their own classification. Suddenly, you sound like a cloud expert and it will be cool. It’s not that hard to learn about clouds, that’s why I want to share my knowledge with you about clouds, so you can share it with your friends too.
First of all, we will learn about the common types of clouds and then we move to the classification by the altitude, without further ado let’s begin.
Common types of clouds:
Cirrus
According to World Meteorological Organization, Cirrus comes “From the Latin cirrus, which means a lock of hair, a tuft of horsehair, a bird's tuft”. This cloud looks like soft feathers or curved ribbons, thin and wispy that appear high in the sky. Cirrus clouds form in flat sheets different from the other types. Cirrus clouds consist of ice crystals which give the bright, white appearance. It is so far from the ground and will not affect the weather.
Stratus
According to World Meteorological Organization, Stratus comes “From the Latin stratus, past participle of the verb sternere, which means to extend, to spread out, to flatten out, to cover with a layer”. Basically this cloud is a wide foggy cloud, layered and gray. Often to cover the entire sky, you can imagine it as your fluffy gray blanket covering your bed.
Cumulus
According to World Meteorological Organization, Cumulus comes “From the Latin cumulus, which means an accumulation, a heap, a pile”. People often classified this cloud as cotton, because its shape is similar to big puffs of cotton. Remember when you were in the art class and the assignment was drawing scenery, most of you would draw cumulus clouds and you didn’t realize.
Nimbus
According to World Meteorological Organization, Nimbus comes “From the Latin nimbus, which means rainy cloud”. So it can be a prefix or a suffix which combined with the other types. Any cloud with this prefix or suffix is a rain producing cloud, it’s the truth that we can’t deny.
Classification of clouds by the altitude. These are all classification of clouds based on altitude that I've got from whasthiscloud.com, weatherwizkids.com, owlcation.com and cloudatlas.wmo.int.
High (Above 20.000 feet/6-12 Kilometers)
Composed almost entirely of ice crystals due to cold altitude, high level clouds often appear thin, wispy, soft and transparent. There are three types in this high level,
Cirrus (Ci)/(Curls of hair)
The most common and the highest of all clouds. It does not affect the weather so they are just floating freely and will not cause a rain. Thin, wispy, soft white feathers and very high, you can just simply say it's a cirrus cloud. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “Before sunrise and after sunset, cirrus are often colored bright yellow or red. These clouds are lit up long before other clouds and fade out much later; some time after sunset they become gray”.
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| Cirrus Photo by Paul Crook on Unsplash |
Combination of cirrus and cumulus that form small, rounded, white puffs of cotton and often create a shadow. Cirrocumulus also looks like the fish scales, grain of rice or plowed land.
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| Cirrocumulus Photo by Walter Frehner on Unsplash |
Cirrostratus (Cs)/(Wispy sheet)
Combination of cirrus and stratus that form thin and transparent that often cover the entire sky and are composed of ice crystals. Allowing the shine of sun and moon through and often creating a halo effect (round shape around the source of light) in dry season.
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| Cirrostratus Photo by Cheung Yin on Unsplash |
Primarily composed of water droplets and ice if the temperature is cold enough. According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “In Latin, alto means 'high' yet altostratus and altocumulus clouds are classified as mid-level clouds”.
Altocumulus (Ac)/(High heap)
Combination of alto and cumulus that form a thick cotton ball. White pale in color, small in size, but numerous. There are gray parts and they are clustered and close as if linked together. We often see cirrocumulus clouds that cover the entire sky rather than cirrocumulus clouds.
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| Altocumulus Photo by Didier VEILLON on Unsplash |
Altostratus (As)/(High sheet)
Widespread and thick. Generally forms in the afternoon, followed by rain at night. Its gray color makes it appear bright under the sun and moon, and it can produce drizzle or small rain. We can call this type of cloud as “Lonely clouds” because it doesn’t have any cloud species associated with them, unlike the other.
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| Altostratus Photo by Mario La Pergola on Unsplash |
Low (Below 6.500 feet/2.000 meters)
According to Owlcation.com, “These clouds are mostly composed of water droplets and are found closer to the Earth’s surface”.
Stratus (St)/(Layer or sheet)
Low and very wide. The sheets spread like a fog and have many layers. Remember the “fluffy gray blanket” it’s the characteristic of stratus. If you work in a city with numerous tall buildings or you like to hike a mountain, you will be able to recognize stratus clouds by their ability to obscure the tops of buildings and the tops of mountains.
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| Stratus Photo by Benjamin Sadjak on Unsplash |
Stratocumulus (Sc)/(Heap and sheet)
Combination of stratus and cumulus that form like balls of cotton, often cover the entire sky. Tend to spread in horizon, look like a wave in the ocean, thin, being close to the ground and do not cause rain.
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| Stratocumulus Photo by Garvit Nama on Unsplash |
Nimbostratus (Ns)/(Rain sheet)
Combination of nimbo and stratus that form a ragged shape, dark gray and often cause a drizzle. It’s also responsible for rainy and snowy weather.
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| Nimbostratus Photo by Eric Prouzet on Unsplash |
Vertically develop clouds (500-2.000 meters)
According to Owlcation.com, “These clouds grow upward through the atmosphere, often reaching high altitudes”.
Cumulus (Cu)/(Heap)
It contains ice crystals, thick, and the peak a little bit high. Often occurs in the afternoon because of the wind rises. It is shiny when exposed to the sun and creates gray shadows if only one side is exposed. We can call these clouds “Mrs. Puff” from SpongeBob SquarePants.
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| Cumulus Photo by Lester Hine on Unsplash |
Cumulonimbus (Cb)/(Rain cloud)
Combination of cumulus and nimbo that often cause heavy rain with thunderstorm, lightning, hail even tornadoes. It has a big volume, dark base, very thick, low altitude and the peak is shaped like a tower.
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| Cumulonimbus Photo by Colin Lloyd on Unsplash |
After you read this article, it is not that hard to identify them right?! I can say it is more like you are playing puzzles while studying. If you notice, those clouds' names are combinations. Like cirrocumulus, it is a combination of cirrus and cumulus, you can just combine their common types and remember their respective characteristics. The thing that I want to tell you is, cloud is an interesting object and it is not that hard to learn about it.
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References :
https://www.whatsthiscloud.com/cloud-types
https://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-clouds.htm
https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/clouds/ten-basic-clouds
https://owlcation.com/stem/cloud-types-with-pictures
https://cloudatlas.wmo.int/en/appendix-1-
etymology-of-latin-names-of-clouds.html
https://unsplash.com/ (for those images)
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