Clues From Clouds, Part 2

Last week we started talking about how important clouds are to our daily life.  Without clouds, life on earth as we know it would be impossible.  Not only are clouds highly functional, but they can also be breathtakingly beautiful or ferociously intimidating.  They can tower up into ominous, dark thunder storms or grace the entire sky in a lacy pattern.  They are all made of water or ice built onto specifically shaped dust particles in the atmosphere, called “cloud condensation nuclei”, but can have very different results depending on the type of cloud.

Most people are at least somewhat familiar with the idea of biological classification (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, species), but did you know that we have a classification system for clouds as well?  For clouds you can have a genus, species, variety, accessory clouds, and supplementary features, all with Latin-based names.   You have probably heard of “cumulus”, “stratus”, or “cirrus” clouds before.  These are the three main cloud forms and just about anyone can easily learn to recognize them.

If you are outside on a nice summer afternoon you might look up into the sky and see fluffy, white, cotton-ball clouds harmlessly drifting in a sunny blue sky.  These are your cumulus clouds, based off of the Latin word meaning “heap” or “pile” because these fluffy white clouds are best described as a lumpy pile (we get our English word “accumulate” from the same Latin base).    Other times you might see delicate wisps of cirrus clouds gracing the sky far above the surface.  “Cirrus” means “curl” in Latin and these clouds are always made of icy wisps because they form much higher than other clouds.  Very few people really like those rather dull, flat, low clouds we call “Stratus”, which is Latin for “Layer”.

Knowing these three basic cloud times may seem a little dull and unimpressive, but we can’t really talk about the exciting things without having these basics covered.  Next week we will talk about some of my favorite cloud features that you have probably never heard of before.  Try to keep an eye on the sky this week and see if you can recognize some of these basic types.