[Howard Brown]

Nice thread.

I would like to add two points from (A) here. The NASA APOD links discuss them but don’t necessarily come to the same conclusion.
1. ‘But mamma tend to form at the rear, rather than the front of storms. Once you see mamma formations above you, the storm has usually passed over, or missed you entirely’.
2. ‘Each lobe of mamma is typically one to two miles across, and appears for around ten minutes. There are several theories about why they form, but an extensive 2006 scientific review of all the studies to date concluded that no one’s really sure’.
(A) The Cloud Collector’s Handbook, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, 2009, page 49

[Howard Brown]

If this thread has been an attempt at Trump l’oeil (pardon my French) then perhaps best close out with the genuine. I was tardy with my order for the 2017 CAS Calendar but it has now arrived and this lenticular is the cover picture

The Cloud Appreciation Society

I hope Michael got a gratuitous Calendar as his photo has been chosen for February.

[Howard Brown]

A lovely picture, George, although Facebook has followed The Times and blocks much of my view since I don’t belong to it. It’s a coincidence that Will Pavia wrote a piece about Mt Washington in The Times recently (his final para asked would you want to honeymoon there). Click on the heading ‘Stormiest…’ to read the start of the article.

https://newstral.com/en/article/en/1053481910/stormiest-place-on-earth-is-peak-of-hotelier-s-ambition

[Howard Brown]

Thank you, Michael, for your skilled eye. I did send an e-mail to CAS drawing their attention to the photo and Sheena said she would ensure the powers that be were aware.

It makes you wonder, though, how much you can trust those such as Getty Images and The Times photo editor (I did not check the letters page thereafter).

‘H’

[Howard Brown]

Much musing

I find this photo quite startling – Stonehenge is in the middle of Salisbury Plain with no hills for some distance. So what are these clouds? Lenticularis of some sort, like a pile d’assiettes (1), ‘formed due to alternating layers of moister and drier air’.

These clouds seem quite lowly, so Stratocumulus lenticularis, CL5, p34 in (2)? But these are not so UFO-like says Hamblyn.

So, Altocumulus lenticularis, CM4, p54 in (2)? They are localised phenomena and never go on to invade the sky, says Hamblyn. I wonder how long this stack was around.

Then there is the cynic’s explanation, but we wont go into that.

(1) The Cloud Collector’s Handbook, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, pp 28-29.
(2) The Met Officee Pocket Cloud Book, Richard Hamblyn

[Howard Brown]

There is now a Climate Change #2 thread.

[Howard Brown]

Laurence, you are full of bright ideas, but this is definitely a non-runner. CASI sounds exactly like the English slang word ‘khasi’ (q.v.).

However, I would not be in favour, anyway for several reasons

–  the KISS principle

–  ‘International’ would not add value, it would be redundant, really and suggestive of that boundary which you are against

–  it would not help your extra-planetary interests

–  the cost of change would be significant in more than monetary ways

[Howard Brown]

Maria, I followed your link but am pretty sure that what I see is the existing ICA Vol I and Vol II?

You have made me wonder if the new 3/17 ICA will exist only on-line; and will it be only Vol I in 3/17.

[Howard Brown]

Laurence, whilst you wait for a formal CAS response, you have carte blanche to post about such clouds in the Odds & Ends thread. Thus spake a one time moderator Andrew Pothecary – O&E is constrained only to that which you think might interest the Forum. In this instance you are right since I find it interesting too. Thank you.

[Howard Brown]

ICA Volume II 1987 (pictures with text)

http://library.wmo.int/pmb_ged/wmo_407_en-v2.pdf

This is a 10 MB PDF. Your Altocumulus stratiformis has five pictures, starting on page 67 (page numbers are below the picture to the left for even numbers, to the right for odd numbers). Obviously there is no ‘correct’ order used leading me to believe your suggestion ‘Are the names added in order of dominance of the particular feature as noted by the observer?’

P.S.  Gavin says there is a new International Cloud Atlas coming in March 2017. So start saving your pennies. The current ICA Vol I and Vol II cost me about £75 (75GBP) from WMO in Geneva, some years ago but well worth it. A credit card helps with currency conversion. I believe there was a WMO office in USA also which might have sold the books.

[Howard Brown]

By the way

My most frequently used source of cloud information is the CAS Cloud Classification chart (1). I have just realised the content of the CAS chart is the same as the ICA II.1.4 ‘Table of Classification of Clouds’ (excluding Mother Clouds) but in a much better designed format or layout.

Richard Hamblyn has a somewhat similar chart (2, 3) ‘The Cloud Species and Varieties Associated with the Ten Cloud Genera’ but which I personally do not find so helpful.

1  The Cloud Collector’s Handbook, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, 2009, pages 104, 105

2  The Cloud Book, Richard Hamblyn, 2008

3  The Met Office Pocket Cloud Book, Richard Hamblyn, 2010. This is identical in content to 2, but in the pocket size of 1.

 

[Howard Brown]

Eureka

Maria, you seem to have the International Cloud Atlas. In Volume 1, Part II.1.4 is a ‘Table of Classification of Clouds’. There is a footnote

‘Note 3.  Species, varieties, supplementary features and accessory clouds are listed approximately in descending order of frequency of their occurrence; mother-clouds are listed in the same order as the genera’.

II.1.3.3  VARIETIES says ‘Furthermore, the same cloud may show characteristics pertaining to more than one variety. If this is the case, all the appropriate variety names are included in the name of the cloud’. It does not in this section take the opportunity to state the order of the variety names.

[Howard Brown]

Maria, I am not insisting on anything, but point out that ‘order’ appears in my link in the above post. In the Introduction it says:

‘When there is more than one type of cloud of any level present, an order of priority has been arranged by WMO to determine which code figure should be used.

In this publication a separate section is devoted to the clouds of each level. At the beginning of each section a pictorial guide shows the priority of coding.’

And in the ‘Pictorial Guide CL’ the white central boxes give priority, the third box saying use one of four codes ‘whichever predominates’.

Richard Hamblyn says the codes allow for development with time, as seems true in the link.

So I suggest WMO concern for ‘order’ is more with predominance and/or time than within Varieties or Accessory Clouds & Supplementary features. You can only have one Species, so the question does not arise there.

But if you find the answer you want, do let us know.

[Howard Brown]

Hi, Maria and welcome. I am not exactly sure what rules you might be looking for, but there is a Cloud Classification code which CAS has never chosen to use. Author Richard Hamblyn, a CAS member, uses the code in his books. The UK Met Office, bless them, gave me a copy of their Cloud Types for Observers handbook when they stopped printing it:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/media/pdf/r/i/Cloud_types_for_observers.pdf

Not all species and varieties are coded e.g. Cumulus humilis is coded CL1, Cumulus radiatus is not coded. There is a CM and a CH. You will find these in the above link.

I would have thought the ICA uses the codes but have not checked my copy yet.

[Howard Brown]

O&E used to be far more popular than of late. So here’s a poem with a great start

from Tithonus

[Author]

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