Ten Basic Clouds

170 points44 comments5 days ago
circadian

Sadly the website is offline, but if you like a hard copy cloud book I can heartily recommend the following. During my spell in Antarctica, I had to act as a meteorological observer (clouds are still manually encoded into METOBS that are entered in by WMO stations). This required learning the 10 types and being able to characterise the full picture of the sky.

It made me a total cloud addict, and spurred a far deeper interest in the role of the atmosphere in environmental science which has persisted ever since.

I heartily recommend looking up at the sky, dividing into oktas (eighths) and trying to classify how much of the low, medium and high clouds there are. If you do it regularly enough, the changes begin to astound. Getting your kids to do it too is also wonderful, because it's always there as an activity... :)

Really hoping this site comes online again soon!

https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/met-office-cloud...

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srean

What I find fascinating objects of beauty are the ways different clouds modify light or are illuminated by different kinds of light, from the belt of Venus to different kinds of halos to crepuscular and anti solar rays.

I remember that one time where anti-solar rays painted pole to pole "longitudes" on the hemispherical dome of the sky. It's too bad we don't have photographic memory, or at least I don't.

It is such a wonderful world if one has the luxury of time and space and the foresight to remove oneself from the cover of a ceiling once in a while.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_of_Venus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepuscular_rays#Gallery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticrepuscular_rays#/media/Fi...

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falloon

I'm something of a cloud-enjoyer. If you're interested in learning more about clouds I'd recommend the international cloud atlas website. https://cloudatlas.wmo.int/en/home.html

Personal top three clouds:

- Nacreous clouds

- Altocumulus lenticularis

- Cirrus homogenitus (what a name)

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calmbonsai

Heh, based on the title, I thought this would be "10 Basic Clouds" for AWS, Azure, GCP, etc. in some sort of GoF "Design Patterns" lexicon.

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Lorin

Ironically the site is now giving a "The website encountered an unexpected error. Try again later." Do I blame the cloud?

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smusamashah

Cumulus are the best clouds. They make so many shapes and things. I could see them as space ships floating by or big heads, or dragons and what not as a child.

jmtame

When I moved from the Bay Area to Austin, the first thing I realized: I missed seeing Cumulus clouds, which I saw a lot growing up in the midwest. Bay Area either has blue skies or Cirrus clouds, but never did see Cumulus clouds there.

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progbits

If you enjoy this you might like https://cloudappreciationsociety.org/

They have forums where people post neat cloud photos and if you sign up for membership they will send you an identification chart plus a journal for keeping track of the types you have seen.

Makes for a nice gift for that person you know who always goes "oh look at that cloud!" :)

sometimelurker

finally something relaxing. nothing about AI or a reminder for myself to start another project with some new fancy method, no politics.

Thank you

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cat-whisperer

when I clicked on this. I was hoping to see cloud providers. but it was a pleasant surprise

gobdovan

'Look at that cloud, dad! It's a bean with legs!'

'No son, that's a Cumulus cloud. Detached, dense, with sharp outlines.'

kalev

Lol, i expected a comparison between the major cloud providers but had a hard time believing there would be ten of them.. Anyway, I should take a day of to look at some real clouds.

TonyAlicea10

Beware the Cumulonimbus.

unethical_ban

Do kids still get taught this in school? I got taught a few in the day. Cirrus, Cumulus, Stratus, Cumulonimbus. Wispy, cottonball, blanket, storm.

NooneAtAll3

noaa got hug of death?

BinaryBuddha

Disappointed to see no mention of AWS, Azure, or GCP.

esafak

Can these clouds be predicted from physics?

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ashm1104

Damn my IT brain thought of AWS , Azure and what not , I should go touch grass

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