Cloud Identification Help
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New Forum Topic: This can be a place for cloudspotters to get advice on their identifications. I’ll start it off with this one that I, as a beginner, am having trouble identifying and will ask any help from members to provide cloudspotting assistance. As you run across your clouds that you are not quite sure of, please post them so members can jump in to aid.
This is one outside of Boise, Idaho that is so dramatic but I’m not sure what I’m looking at.
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Hi Steven! I love the International Cloud Atlas for cloud ID. Your photo looks to me like stratocumulus undulatus. https://cloudatlas.wmo.int/varieties-stratocumulus-undulatus-sc-un.html
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I also think this is cumulus fractus Steven.
Don you posted some nice classical altocumulus, but be sure there are many appearances of altocumulus. The ones Steven posted “looking SW from Carlsbad, New Mexico” before and after look most to the picture that can be found in the ICA when you look for Altocumulus duplicatus. Key is that the cloud must be at mid level. Any other opinion on this?
Today we had a small front passing by (Haarlem, Netherlands) and it was looking like a solid blanket with a very distinct edge in front. Sorry no picture.
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I think that is a shot of cumulus humilis..base is broader than it is tall. imho, they are not “broken up” to be fractus.
The Carlsbad sunset shots look like stratus that, at that edge, show undulatus which indicate differing air currents and that maybe why a segment of the stratus has torn away from the main body. At that area, air currents are tearing apart the stratus.
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Good food for thought Michael. About the cumulus I had the same considerations, but nevertheless I found some similar examples and it made me confirm the question of Steven. The ICA did not help really much in this case. I am still in doubt although your considerations can’t be denied.
For me it was surprising to think the Carlsbad sunset might be stratus. I did not look at it that way for it appeared to me at first glance too solid to be stratus and I had the impression it is at mid level. Nevertheless it is possible that it is stratus indeed. What do you think, is the argument of breaking up of the cloud also applicable for the hypothesis of altocumulus? For me here was the resemblance with the ac duplicatus in the ICA what made me choose altocumulus although the duplicatus is more difficult to judge from the pictures.
Anyway a nice discussion. I really like that. There are such large gray areas in cloud classification and different point of views are always surprising. The black and whites can only be found in the B&W threads.
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Don, undulatus is what the wind causes in a patch of cloud (except for the cumulus and cirrus) like the way ripples in the sand originate on the beach when the tide runs back for instance.
Whether altocumulus appears or not is a matter of the right conditions, being a flow of cold air at mid level. Just check the cloudspotters guide for a better explanation of the conditions needed to form altocumulus (e.o.). Of course the winds cause air to flow (or the other way around?) and form clouds depending on temperatures, moist etc. but undulatus is caused by the wind when the cloud is already there.
By the way: undulatus always shows its pattern perpendicular to the wind while cirrus fibratus has its streaks in the direction of the wind.
On my turn I hope this answer helps?
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This forum is awesome– I’ve been unknowingly cloud-spotting for all my life, much more seriously on the photography front since 2008. So blessed to have stumbled across the CAS a couple of years back and then to come back for a revisit and find these forums.
I’m eating up the lingo now, seems like I’m learning new stuff every day- and it’s expanded my enjoyment of cloud-spotting so much— you are a fantastic community- so open, so kind and considerate with this wonderful atmosphere of learning together and sharing knowledge— very rare on the Internet!
Cheers— I hope and pray you all are safe, healthy and even… I dare say… happy!
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holy moley, Michael. I never even knew such names existed. I had to look it up. (BTW I found a decent website : www. namesofcloud.com ).
I was taught that : You look pretty much straight up, straighten your arm & hold out you fingers like you’re pointing at the clouds. If the puffs are about 1 finger wide then they’re stratocumulus. If the puffs are bigger – two or three fingers wide – then they’re altocumulus.
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Don, Michael is very accurate in his classification. When you want to be surprised even more just check the cloud identification table of the ICA (International Cloud Atlas) and check for each of the ten main cloud types (genera) the possible species, varieties, supplementary features and accessory clouds: Cloud Classification Summary
It is fun to check all kind of combinations together with pictures of good examples (mostly). I always check this table in case of doubt for which are always reasons to have (unfortunately).
And Steven: you spotted a nice cumulonimbus with species capillatus.
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Thank you Michael. I have already bought that one, it is in the mail! I also spend hours looking at the ICA and and seem to understand. But then I walk out to a confused grey sky, that doesn’t look like any of the photographs. Slowly I am learning and it is good to know Hans also checks his images. Knowing that the experts also have moments of doubt, helps push me onward.
Joss, Tasmania
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Hello Don, it was nice to see you live in a Zoom meeting recently! It is no wonder you can’t find anything about an eyebbrow cloud. I know the eyebrow cloud is not an offically accepted classification (yet?). Maybe it is a new challenge for Gavin to get it recognized by the WMO and made part of the ICA. Gavin collects examples of them and he has already a Latin name for this cloud : superciliaris, which is Latin for eyebrow. So eyebrow clouds. I will try to find an example later. As a moderator for the cloudspotter app I have seen some examples going by. There are some similarities with asperitas imo.
An example taken in France by me in 2014 by me.
An example from the moderator app. I love this one. It is in my opinion a perfect example.
Another one from the cloudspotter app.
By the way: very nice inversion. It is fun to experiment with image processing.
I am sure Michael will come up with some of his own examples?
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Hans – Thanks for your kind comments. It was nice to see you in other than your avatar, too.
Regarding the inversion – Yes that was fun. After inverting it, I changed the white balance point, and added a bit of contrast. A little fun with Photoshop.
Regarding the eyebrows – Your France 2014 photo, and the second Cloudspotter app : I absolutely agree. In the blue, moderator app photo I also see eyebrows where the darkness comes together. It looks a bit like a dark, dense liquid being slowly poured into a less dense, lighter coloured one (yeah – I know that’s a description that can be used to describe clouds). More than that, this one reminds me of the (pulling from my vague memory again) of the fractal looking cloud that sometimes (?) comes through mountain passes. Doesn’t take away from the sheer beauty of the photo; I hope it soon joins the Cloud-A-Day gallery.
I’ll have to keep a look-out for them, try to send some in. Due to the wild rainstorms we get here in Dallas, we regularly get skies very much like the Cloudspotter app photo.
Regarding WMO – I saw an article somewhere (there goes my memory again) about the new, stronger influence of the so-called citizen-scientist. I hope Gavin wins out again!
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…found an interesting article on cloud “gazing”. Not bad.
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I took this image this morning. I was trying to capture undulatus for CloudSpotter but forgot I had to click on the button on the app instead of the phone.
However when I looked at the image it looked different to what I saw with the naked eye. The main section of the cloud looks like a reverse nettingn -
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Hi! A friend send this photo to me asking the type of the cloud. Picture is taken 13.5. about at 8am (UTC+3) in the coast of Bothnian Bay.
Browsing through everything I know and I can’t figure out this.. I know that I’ve seen this formation before, not by my own eyes, but somewhere in social media.
Any guesses?
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To me they look like eyebrow clouds. This is not a learned response, as I am rather new to this site. However Hans Stocker added one a few replies ago. To view scroll up. CAS would like to call this cloud formation supersciliaris.
but then again it might just be something else. Good like in your endeavours to find out more about these intriquing clouds. I shall be watching with interest.
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Found something on CAS- page Cloud of the month – September 2019
and this quote from Weird clouds – videoSociety founder, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, told us that he’s always called them ‘eyebrow clouds’ as they do rather have that appearance. He says they are caused by turbulence as the wind blows over raised ground such as a mountain peak, which fits with the Lake District location.
It got very interesting on the “over raised ground” part, cause in my knowledge the picture I got isn’t near to anything of great heights… Can’t wait to know the name of this individual!
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Hello Cloudlady
I like your picture of the so-called eyebrows. I agree with Jocelyn on that classification all be it an unofficial one. Nice video you found about the phenomenon. All examples here are lenticularis shaped and in my opinion they also seem to have the outlines of what asperitas looks like. About the heights that are assumed to be near I think waves in the air can be further away from heights than you might think. And waves of air are needed for lenticularis to form in the right conditions.
Unfortunately there is no official name yet for these eyebrows. Maybe Gavin Pretor Pinney succeeds also in getting this one officially accepted by the WMO?
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Hello Donnatella, I think you spotted a lenticularis above the stratocumulus. Pileus is a so-called accessory cloud that is only found attached to another cloud, for example a cumulus. On this picture they don’t seem to be attached, so in my opinion it is a lenticularis “on its own”. Any other opinions?
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Donnatella,,Yes wind is the tell on the identity of the cloud phenomena you photographed. The lower dark clouds show being shaped and pushed by the wind. So is the lenticular cloud formed by wind. Pileus is the product of a cloud, generally a fast rising cumulonimbus or convectus , compressing the moisture out of the atmosphere above. So winds tend not to make pileus as much as fast and furious rising columns . Winds actually destroy the delicate veil like mist created by compression.
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Nice to see that the cloud identification help has got a special place on the Forum in a way that in this category also new topics can be created. That way they will all be easy to find I suppose.
I will give your sunset a try Ruth. I see mainly altocumulus with in the middle against the light backgroud virga falling down from it. Beneath and above is altocumulus lenticularis visible. On top Of the picture the low hanging dark clouds might be stratocumulus. Any other opinions?
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Hans, thanks so much for your assistance with this cloud grouping. I will enjoy looking up those formations. Months ago I would take photos of what I thought were interesting shapes, sizes, and colors. Now there is so much more that can influence a good picture. I look forward to sharing more on the way fun forums.
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Hello Don, it is Cirrus for sure you spotted and a bit of Altocumulus on the lower half of the picture. Indeed no fibratus nor radiatus. “Just” Cirrus. It must be a coincidence but I check The Cloudspotter’s Guide (by Gavin Pretor-Pinney himself) on a rather regular basis and a few days ago I read this text underneath a picture of cirrus: ‘” Cloud genera don’t have to be defined as one of the species. These are just Cirrus.” On p. 175 when you want to look it up. Quite applicable here I think. When you don’t have the Guide yet it is certainly recommended for its omnipresent humor and great information on clouds. My copy is well-thumbed yet I can say.
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For German-speakers: “The Cloudspotter´s Guide”- German edition is “Wolkengucken” (published 2006) and “These are just Cirrus” can be found on page 187. I bought the book in early 2006 and applied for membership 2 weeks later (Nr. 6178).
Today I am with great pleasure the community manager for the Cloudspotter Group “Upper Austria and Salzburg, Austria”
High-cloud mixture above the “Pöstlingberg-Basilica, Linz-Austria (daily check from the kitchen window of my home).
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Hello Heather! Pertaining to your question, I don’t believe so. You have the right idea, however, a fallstreak hole usually constitutes a clearly defined hole, as well as the fallstreaks themselves. You seem to have captured a beautiful image of two different layers of a denser cirrus down below, and a wispier layer up above. Here is a solid example(not mine) of a fallstreak hole. Hope this helps!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-03/fallstreak-hole-cloud-formation-in-victoria/5863564
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Another view of it</p>
This was taken on a February evening this year. Time was late evening over some ponds.
Is it a mini fallstreak hole? Dipton, New Zealand.
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