This species of Stratus, known as ‘fractus’, is not the usual formation for this cloud type, or genus. (For this, see the featureless layer, known as ‘nebulosus’). Stratus fractus has the form of wisps or shreds of low cloud, which can form on hillsides like this. Another situation in which shreds of Stratus form is in the saturated air below rain clouds. In this context it is also known as the accessory cloud, pannus.