Rain clouds and virga

[Kat Fitzgibbon]

Hello cloud spotters, I have two photos from a fab trip to the beach enjoying the huge sky and would love some help from more experienced eyes.

In one I caught a huge cloud pouring with rain over the sea – I’m not clear on the height needed to be classed as cumulonimbus, would this just be cumulus praecipitatio?

In the other photo are some darker trails coming down from beneath the clouds – I wondered if these were virga?

Thanks folks!

[Shannon Norman]

Hi Kat! Nice cloud spotting. I’ve only recently been learning about cloud classification, so no expert here, but its possible those dangly grey clouds are “scud clouds” (my current favorite phrase :)) and not virga. Curious to hear more people chime in.

-Shannon

[Kat Fitzgibbon]

Ah thank you Shannon! I forgot about scud clouds (which I think are the same as pannus?) and that does look more likely than virga, especially that big raggedy fella in the middle. The photos have posted in lower quality than I hoped or you’d be able to see more of them around it.

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