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Submit Photos and Videos. Gray DC Bureau. Investigate TV. Closings and Delays. Dismiss Closings Alerts Bar. Types of storm clouds: which clouds should concern me? This is one trick for telling them apart from shelf clouds. Spotting one is rare, but will tell you where a thunderstorm's gust front or another weather boundary, like cold fronts or sea breezes lay, since these clouds are formed by outflows of cold air.
Those in aviation may recognize roll clouds by another name — "Morning Glorys". Wave, or Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds, resemble breaking ocean waves in the sky. Wave clouds are created when air is stable and winds at the top of a cloud layer are moving faster across it than those below it, causing the top clouds to be whipped around in a downward curling motion after hitting the stable layer of air above.
While wave clouds aren't related to storms, they are a visual cue for aviators that a large amount of vertical wind shear and turbulence are in the area.
Asperitas are another cloud type that resembles a roughened sea surface. They appear as if you were underwater looking upward toward the surface when the sea is particularly roughened and chaotic. Although they look like dark and storm-like doomsday clouds, asperitas tend to develop after convective thunderstorm activity has developed. Much is still unknown about this cloud type, as it is the newest species to be added to the World Meteorological Organization's International Cloud Atlas in over 50 years.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Weather prediction: Look out for rain, hail, and tornadoes!
Stratocumulus clouds are patchy gray or white clouds that often have a dark honeycomb-like appearance. Weather prediction: Fair weather for now, but a storm might be on its way. Contrails are made by high-flying jet airplanes.
They are still clouds, though, because they are made of water droplets condensed from the water vapor in the exhaust of the jet engines. Weather prediction: Contrails can provide information about the layers of moisture in the sky.
Mammatus clouds are actually altocumulus, cirrus, cumulonimbus, or other types of clouds that have these pouch-like shapes hanging out of the bottom. The pouches are created when cold air within the cloud sinks down toward the Earth. Weather prediction: Severe weather might be on its way! Orographic clouds get their shape from mountains or hills that force the air to move over or around them. They can also be formed by sea breezes and often appear as lines where two air masses meet. Weather prediction: An early sign that the conditions might be right to form afternoon thunderstorms!
Lenticular clouds Lenticular clouds are shaped like lenses or almonds or They may get their shape from hilly terrain or just the way the air is rising over flat terrain. We can see cirrus clouds in a variety of scenarios including outflow from large scale storms, like nor'easters, tropical cyclones and even thunderstorm complexes. They also form out ahead of warm fronts and can be indicative of upcoming precipitation.
Above: Cirrus clouds on a beautiful day Courtesy geograph. Now we reach the clouds that are sometimes at the center of controversy, contrails. No, they are not formed as a result of chemicals emitted into the atmosphere, but mainly because of the water vapor released by the exhaust of an aircraft.
When the aircraft releases the hot water vapor at such a high altitude, it becomes trapped in a very cold environment where it almost immediately condenses and forms a cloud. Depending on how dry the upper atmosphere is, the contrail cloud may stick around for mere seconds or spread out and become cirrus clouds for hours.
However, these clouds are not associated with any weather. The lenticular cloud is one of the more unusual cloud types and is more common to those living out west, especially in the Rocky Mountains. This cloud resembles a lens and is typically positioned over a high hill or mountain. As the wind blows against the mountains, it is forced upward and moisture condenses, forming a cloud that stays stationary until the uplift or moisture feed ends.
Although these clouds could produce precipitation if dense enough, they are mainly an indicator of air turbulence downstream. However, due to their unique shape, many times they have been mistaken for UFO sightings!
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