High or Medium Level Cumulus?
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I have been pondering this question since 29th Dec 21. It was the first time I have seen these cloudlets in these formations on this early winters afternoon and my first instinct, was they are of the genera cirrocumulus. That conclusion was initially brought about by the smallness of the tufts and how they appeared white with the sun only minutes below the horizon. I can see shading within the undulations creating form. Although I didn’t measure the angle of the clouds, they certainly looked to be below 1 degree and I could not see the horizon being in a conurbation of Manchester, England. Doubt crept in when knowing that cirrocumulus tend to be rarer than altocummulus and these where an extensive layer, further casting doubt on my initial thoughts. If anyone out there could add anything and prevent me from utilising my grey matter unnecessarily would be appreciated.Thanks to all – Craig Loftus
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Hello Craig. Great spottings. To begin with Cirrocumulus and Altocumulus can be hard to separate, as your question proofs. The angle can help but I have seen it once develop from high to medium level and the phase in between could have been both. There might be high altocumulus or low cirrocumulus and cirrocumulus is indeed more rare since it is always a cloud in transition.
Having seen your pictures I put my cards on altocumulus (with undulatus as well), but on the last two images I can see in the lower part of the image also smaller cloudlets. I’d say that’s cirrocumulus. So in my opinion you spotted both. The cirrocumulus is partly behind a darker layer of what seems to be cirrostratus or altostratus.
Any other opinions?
Hans
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I would say that these are probably altocumulus purely based on the fact that they seem a bit too big for cirrocumulus. Also, cirrocumulus usually doesn’t cover vast swaths of the sky because, as Hans so kindly pointed out, they are a transition cloud.
–Greg
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I have been pondering this question since 29th Dec 21. It was the first time I have seen these cloudlets in these formations on this early winters afternoon and my first instinct, was they are of the genera cirrocumulus. That conclusion was initially brought about by the smallness of the tufts and how they appeared white with the sun only minutes below the horizon. I can see shading within the undulations creating form. Although I didn’t measure the angle of the clouds, they certainly looked to be below 1 degree and I could not see the horizon being in a conurbation of Manchester, England. Doubt crept in when knowing that cirrocumulus tend to be rarer than altocummulus and these where an extensive layer, further casting doubt on my initial thoughts. If anyone out there could add anything and prevent me from utilising my grey matter unnecessarily would be appreciated.
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