A report on Stratus cloud, Stratocumulus cloud and Cloud

Stratus clouds are low-level clouds characterized by horizontal layering with a uniform base, as opposed to convective or cumuliform clouds that are formed by rising thermals.

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.

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

Stratus stratocumulomutatus clouds occur when stratocumulus opacus patches fuse to create a stratiform layer.

If the cloud layer becomes grayer to the point when individual clouds cannot be distinguished, stratocumulus turn into stratus clouds.