wikiHow: How to Forecast the Weather Using Clouds
Many of us watch the news to get their update on weather. Or look on the Internet and look at their favorite
news website. However, some people forget what you had to do before. You didn't have a T.V, you didn't have
a computer, and you didn't even have a radio way back. There are many alternative ways to do this. You could
predict the weather yourself. With nobody to help. Just using nature as a forecast, you could easily predict what
weather will come up. There are many ways to do this. Leeches, the moon, and even crickets can help. What
about the the things right above your head? Those little puffy objects floating about. Those happen to be clouds.
What do clouds have to do with weather? Lots!!
What kind of weather will these clouds bring?
There are many different types of clouds. These clouds are all formed
in very different ways in the troposphere. The troposphere is where all
weather forms.
Different clouds, means different types of weather, right?
Clouds can be used to easily forecast the weather.
Clouds are classified by their shape and height.
The names of the clouds are derived from Latin words that describe
the cloud's form.
These are usually divided into four categories:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Cirrus means "curl" (as in lock of hair) or "fringe"
Cumulus means "heap" or "pile"
Nimbus means "rain-bearing'
Stratus means "spread over an area" or "layer"
By learning about and watching clouds, a careful observer can make a fairly reliable prediction of what the
weather will within the next hours or days. Before going to the steps of this article, take a little time to
understand what clouds are and how different types suggest changes in weather.
High Clouds: These clouds form bases at an elevation of about 20,000 feet
above sea level. These clouds are usually composed of ice crystals only..
Cirrus
Cirrus clouds are the most abundant of all high level clouds. They are
made out of ice and are thin, wispy clouds blown in high winds and
gusts into long streamers. These feathery clouds usually spread across
the sky. Streaming cirrus clouds are also called mare's tails. Although
single or maybe a few cirrus clouds can indicate that there is fair
weather coming, a gradually increasing cover of cirrus clouds may
shows that an approaching warm front is coming. By observing the
movement of cirrus clouds you can tell from which direction the
weather is coming from. When you see cirrus clouds, it usually
indicates that a change in the weather will occur within 24 hours.
Mare's Tails - Cirrus
Cirrocumulus
These clouds look like ripples or are grainy in appearance. If they
resemble the striped patterns of fish scales, it is called a mackerel sky.
Hence the grainy look resembles schools of mackerel. When cirrus
clouds begin to be turned into cirrocumulus clouds, a storm may come,
which accounts for the folk weather saying, "Mackerel sky, storm is
nigh." Cirrocumulus clouds are usually seen in the winter and show
fair, but cold weather. In tropical regions, they may indicate an
oncoming hurricane.
A Mackerel Sky Cirrocumulus
Cirrostratus
These clouds look like thin sheets that spread themselves across the sky.
At times, they do not look to be different clouds at all, however, they
give the sky a pale, white like appearance. These clouds can indicate the
coming of rain.They are so thin, they are translucent, or maybe even a
little transparent, so that the sun and moon can be actually seen through
them. Cirrostratus clouds usually come 12-24 hours before a rain or
snow storm.
Midlevel Clouds: These clouds form bases at an elevation of about about 6,500
to 20,000 feet. They are mostly are made of water droplets, but can also contain
ice crystals in some situations.
Altostratus
Altostratus clouds are colored in a gray or blue-gray color. While in
Mid level, these clouds are composed of tiny ice crystals or . These
clouds are most often seen as uniformly bluish-gray sheets that cover all
or most of the sky. At times, they are so thick that they obscure the Sun,
which then appears as nothing more than a light area in the sky.
Altostratus clouds often appear a few hours ahead of a warm front that
brings precipitation.
Altocumulus
Altocumulus clouds are mid level clouds that are composed of water
droplets and appear as gray, puffy, irregular objects. These clouds most
often are seen in recognizable layers of puffy, round, Small clouds. As
with cirrocumulus clouds, their appearance is also sometimes called a
mackerel sky. If you see altocumulus clouds on a warm, humid, or
sticky morning, be prepared to observe thunderstorms late in the
afternoon.
Altocumulus clouds.
Low Clouds: These clouds form bases below 6,500 feet in elevation.
They mostly are made of little drops of water only.
Cumulus
Cumulus clouds are usually called "fair-weather clouds". The bottom, (or base),
of each cloud is generally flat and the top of each cloud has rounded stacks, or
so they say, "puffs." When the top of the cumulus clouds look like the head of a
cauliflower, it is called cumulus congestus, or towering cumulus. These clouds
are sometimes put in the group of vertically developed clouds, as they can
develop in height. Cumulus clouds look like white cotton balls or cauliflower
heads, and usually show that fair, dry conditions. Fair-weather cumulus clouds
only last for a short time. When they make showers, the precipitation is most
often light and simple. These clouds grow in an up direction, and can develop
into giant cumulonimbus clouds, which are thunderstorm clouds.
Wow! Cumulus clouds.
Cumulonimbus
Cumulonimbus clouds are thunder clouds. High winds can make the
cloud's top flat of into an anvil-like shape. Sometimes, they are put in the
group of vertically developed clouds, these are cumulus clouds that have
grown very tall into the atmosphere. Also called thunderheads,
cumulonimbus clouds have bottoms that are usually dark. These clouds
can forecast some of the most extreme weather, including heavy rain,
hail, or snow; thunderstorms; tornadoes; and hurricanes. The anvil
usually points in the direction the storm is moving.
A Cumulonimbus cloud can also be a funnel cloud. A funnel cloud is
a tapering form of a cloud coming from the base of a larger cloud.
Showing that a tornado is soon to occur. The tornado forms when the
clouds reaches the ground with a violent wind speed and a cloud of
debris around it.
Tornado Funnel Cloud
Stratus
Stratus clouds are grayish clouds that often stretch across and block
the entire sky. They look like fog that is not on the ground. These
clouds often cover the entire sky with a dull-gray color. If their
bottoms reach the ground, they become fog. Stratus clouds produce
only light drizzle or fine snow, if anything at all, that is.
Cumulonimbus cloud
Stratocumulus
Stratocumulus clouds are low, puffy and gray. Most form in rows with
blue sky visible in between them. Rain rarely occurs with
stratocumulus clouds, however, they can turn into nimbostratus clouds.
These are masses of puffy clouds with little or no space in between.
A sky full of stratocumulus clouds indicates dry weather if the
difference in temperature between night and day is only a few
degrees. Sometimes, though, light precipitation can occur.
Nimbostratus
Nimbostratus clouds form a dark gray, wet looking cloudy layer. They
often produce precipitation that is usually light to moderate.These
clouds form a dark gray blanket. Nimbostratus clouds bring
precipitation, and rain and snow can fall from them almost
constantly for long periods.They are associated with continuously
falling rain or snow. They often produce precipitation that is usually
light to moderate.
Nimbostratus clouds.
Miscellaneous Clouds
Finally, there exists a group of clouds, rarely or occasionally observed, not included in the following
classification. Some of these "special clouds" consist for the greater part or in their entirety of non-aqueous
liquid or solid particles. The definition of a cloud given above is therefore not applicable to all special clouds.
Mammatus
These clouds that look like hanging bulges from the skies are called
mammatus clouds. These clouds are formed my sinking air, and it
makes sense. These clouds usually mean a storm is going away, not
coming.
Mammatus clouds
Fog
Fog is made up of billions of practically microscopic water droplets.
It occurs if the atmosphere's ability to be seen near the Earth's surface
is reduced to 1 kilometer or less.
Fog
Green Clouds
These clouds are usually related to severe weather. The color is formed by light reflected from the green
vegetation, such as a cornfield, or a very thick forest. In the Great Plains of the United States, they are related to
storms which are likely to produce tornadoes. (See Cumulonimbus)
Nacreous
Nacreous clouds which by day resemble pale cirrus, but after sunset, are
characterized by brilliant colors. They occur at altitudes between 21 and
30 kilometers (70,000 and 100,000 feet). The physical constitution of
nacreous clouds is still unknown. However, the simultaneous occurrence
of various diffraction colors in more or less irregular patterns indicates
the presence of minute particles, possibly spherical ice particles.
Nacreous Clouds.
Noctilucent
Noctilucent clouds also resemble thin cirrus, but usually with a bluish or
silvery, or sometimes orange to red color; they stand out against the dark
sky. Measurements have shown that their altitude ranges from 75 to 90
kilometers (250,000 to 300,000 feet). Their physical composition is also
unknown, but they are believed to be composed of fine, cosmic dust
particles possibly with a thin, outer layer of ice. Noctilucent clouds
become visible after sunset. They are at first grayish, then more brilliant
and, as time advances, they appear bluish white like tarnished silver.
Billow Clouds – Undulatus asperatus
These clouds are formed from the state of being unstable that are
associated with air-flows. Having been marked up and down shear and
weak thermal stratification.