One of the world’s most beautiful natural sights is the formation of clouds. These seem to change all the time and can be very spectacular. They may also indicate the weather. Read on and be your own weather forecaster.

Cirrus

A sky full of cirrus cloud.

Cirrus clouds are feathery, white clouds. They have thin wispy strands and tufts coming off those strands. This is why they are sometimes called ‘mare’s tail’ clouds. The word cirrus actually means ‘curl of hair’.This is high cloud with a base at around 23,000 feet and it is not a rain bearing cloud.

Cirrocumulus

Cirrocumulus clouds form at the top.

These small patchy white clouds are high altitude clouds occurring at over 16,000 feet and they seem to form rows. They do not normally bring rain but showers are possible. In winter this type of cloud can bring snow.

Cirrostratus

Cirrostratus is like a thin white sheet.

These thin white sheets of cloud are made up of ice crystals. It is quite common for them to form halos around the edges. When these clouds cover the whole sky they may be so thin that they just look like a white sheet. This type of cloud may indicate rainfall within the next 12-24 hours.

Cumulus

Cumulus clouds are white and fluffy. These are very low level clouds with a base of 2000 metres. These are typical in hot weather when the moisture in the air heats up and rises. It then condenses into these fluffy clouds. There is a fifty fifty chance of rain here, but it will normally take the form of a short sharp shower. In windy conditions these clouds can form up in line which are sometimes called cloud streets.

Stratus

These are low grey clouds with a cloud base of below 2000 metres. They can look as though they are in horizontal layers. These clouds may bring rain but not much. It is most likely to be very fine drizzle.

Nimbostratus

Nimbostratus is low level cloud with a cloud base of around 2400 metres. It is dark with widespread almost formless layers. It does usually bring rain. The name nimbostratus comes from ‘nimbo’ which equals rain and ’stratus’ which means layer.