Nature can exhibit surprising displays of order in seemingly chaotic situations: lining up grains of sand into regular, parallel ripples below the ebb and flow of the surf; coordinating bees to form geometric honeycombs as they construct their hives; arranging fair-weather Cumulus clouds into regimented lines, known as ‘cloud streets’, like those in February’s Cloud of The Month.

Orderliness in clouds can seem more surprising than when it is found elsewhere in the natural world. Are clouds not the most disorderly things around, shaped as they are by the unruly motions of the atmosphere? So irregular is their movement that when physicists came up with Chaos Theory in the 1970s, some had been inspired by gazing up at the clouds.

While the particular curls and wisps of these ghosts of the atmosphere are indeed chaotic, the clouds themselves occasionally exhibit quite regimented formations. This tension between order and disorder is surely one reason we find them so intriguing to watch. Some cloudspotters love them for their stubborn refusal to abide by rules. Others, who tend to like to have their CD collections arranged in alphabetical order for easy access, find neat formations such as cloud streets a blessed relief.
 

Current Cloud of the Month:
March 2010

Previous Clouds of the Month:
February 2010
January 2010
Cloud Reflections (December 09)
Numbers in the Clouds (November 09)
Sun Pillar (October 09)
Convection Clouds (September 09)
‘Pile d’Assiettes’ (August 09)
Cumulus congestus (July 09)
‘Asperatus’ (June 09)
Clouds at Night (May 09)
Sundogs (April 09)
Diamond Dust (March 09)
Cloud Streets (February 09)
Crepuscular Rays (Jan 09)
Valley Fog (December 08)
Cloud Shadows (November 08)
Contrails (October 08)
Mamma (September 08)
Kármán Vortex (August 08)
The Summertime Halo (July 08)
The Nor’west Arch (June 08)
Microbursts (May 08)
Irridescent Clouds (April 08)
Northern Lights – Aurora Borealis (March 08)
Ice halos (February 08)
Lightning (January 08)
Roll Cloud (December 07)
Banner Cloud (November 07)
Stratocumulus (October 07)
The Unclassified Cloud (September 07)
Alexander’s Dark Band (August 07)
Fumulus Snail (July 07)
Distrail (June 07)
Altocumulus undulatus (May 07)
Cumulonimbus capillatus (April 07)
Lacunosus (March 07)
Horseshoe Vortex Cloud (February 07)
Jet-Stream Cirrus (Janurary 07)
Altostratus/Altocumulus/Altowhateveritis (December 06)
Anti-Crepuscular Rays (November 06)
Stratocumulus (October 06)
Altocumulus (September ’06)
The Kelvin-Helmholtz Wave Cloud (August ’06)
The ‘Brocken Spectre’ (July ’06)
‘Whale’s Mouth’ (June ’06)
Noctilucent (May ’06)
Cirrus (April ’06)
Cap Cloud (March ’06)
Fallstreak Holes (February ’06)
Nacreous (January ’06)
Cirrostratus (December ’05)
Tuba (November ’05)
Virga (October ’05)
Cirrocumulus (September ’05)
Altostratus (August ’05)
Cumulus (July ’05)
Mamma (June ’05)
Pileus (May ’05)
Lenticularis (April ’05)
Stratus (March ’05)
Cumulonimbus (February ’05)
Contrails (January ’05)


To contribute a Cloud of the Month,
go to our Photograph Submissions page.

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