A report on Cumulus cloud, Stratocumulus cloud and Cloud

Cumulus clouds are clouds which have flat bases and are often described as "puffy", "cotton-like" or "fluffy" in appearance.

A stratocumulus cloud, occasionally called a cumulostratus, belongs to a genus-type of clouds characterized by large dark, rounded masses, usually in groups, lines, or waves, the individual elements being larger than those in altocumulus, and the whole being at a lower height, usually below 2000 m. Weak convective currents create shallow cloud layers because of drier, stable air above preventing continued vertical development.

If the air over land is moist and hot enough, stratocumulus may develop to various cumulus clouds, or, more commonly, the sheet of stratocumulus may become thick enough to produce some light rain.

The main representative cloud types for each of these forms are stratiform, cumuliform, stratocumuliform, cumulonimbiform, and cirriform.

There are also cumuliform clouds of limited convection that comprise stratocumulus (low-étage), altocumulus (middle-étage) and cirrocumulus (high-étage).