(Click image to enlarge) (Image © Antonio Bonasera)
Stratocumulus clouds look rather like someone couldn’t find the ‘Off’ switch on the candyfloss machine. They generally have low, puffy cumulus-like mounds, which are joined together into a more-or-less continuous layer. When the layer is extensive and thick, it can completely block out the sky above.
The shifting terrain of the Stratocumulus results in a great variety of light and dark shades. Sometimes, openings appear through it, which can result in ‘crepuscular rays’ of sunlight that look like torch beams shining down to the ground. At others times, as in the fine example shown above, such an opening can appear as a window up to the sky above.
What a glorious sight it is to peer up through a cavernous hole in the clouds to the firmament above. Suddenly, there is a sense of scale to the ocean of air above us. Suddenly, our atmosphere has depth and drama. Looking up through it, we become more aware of our place down here on the surface. A opening through a Stratocumulus cloud is a window on the sky and a window on the soul.
Current Cloud of the Month:
‘Asperatus’ (June 09)
Previous Clouds of the Month:
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)
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