A report on Cloud

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Stratocumuliform cloudscape
Tropospheric cloud classification by altitude of occurrence: Multi-level and vertical genus-types not limited to a single altitude level include nimbostratus, cumulonimbus, and some of the larger cumulus species.
Cumulus humilis clouds in May
Windy evening twilight enhanced by the Sun's angle, can visually mimic a tornado resulting from orographic lift
Nimbostratus cloud producing precipitation
Cirrus fibratus clouds in March
Stratocumulus over Orange County.
Stratocumulus cloud
Cumulus humilis clouds
Cumulonimbus cloud over the Gulf of Mexico in Galveston, Texas
High cirrus upper-left merging into cirrostratus and some cirrocumulus upper right
A large field of cirrocumulus
Sunrise scene giving a shine to an altocumulus stratiformis perlucidus cloud (see also 'species and varieties')
Altostratus translucidus near top of photo merging into altostratus opacus near bottom
Cumulus humilis clouds over Jakarta, Indonesia
Stratocumulus stratiformis perlucidus over Galapagos, Tortuga Bay (see also 'species and varieties')
Stratus nebulosus translucidus
Deep multi-level nimbostratus cloud covering the sky with a scattered layer of low stratus fractus pannus (see also 'species' and 'supplementary features' sections)
Cumulus humilis and cumulus mediocris with stratocumulus stratiformis perlucidus in the foreground (see also 'species and varieties')
Towering vertical cumulus congestus embedded within a layer of cumulus mediocris: Higher layer of stratocumulus stratiformis perlucidus.
Progressive evolution of a single cell thunderstorm
Isolated cumulonimbus cloud over the Mojave Desert, releasing a heavy shower
Altocumulus lenticularis forming over mountains in Wyoming with lower layer of cumulus mediocris and higher layer of cirrus spissatus
Example of a castellanus cloud formation
Cumulus mediocris cloud, about to turn into a cumulus congestus
A layer of stratocumulus stratiformis perlucidus hiding the setting sun with a background layer of stratocumulus cumulogenitus resembling distant mountains.
Cirrus fibratus radiatus over ESO's La Silla Observatory
Altocumulus stratiformis duplicatus at sunrise in the California Mojave Desert, USA (higher layer orange to white; lower layer grey)
Cumulus partly spreading into stratocumulus cumulogenitus over the port of Piraeus in Greece
Cumulonimbus mother cloud dissipating into stratocumulus cumulonimbogenitus at dusk
Cirrus fibratus intortus formed into a Kármán vortex street at evening twilight
Global cloud cover, averaged over the month of October 2009. NASA composite satellite image.
Lenticular nacreous clouds over Antarctica
Noctilucent cloud over Estonia
Joshua Passing the River Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant (1800) by Benjamin West, showing Yahweh leading the Israelites through the desert in the form of a pillar of cloud, as described in
Stratocumulus stratiformis and small castellanus made orange by the sun rising
An occurrence of cloud iridescence with altocumulus volutus and cirrocumulus stratiformis
Sunset reflecting shades of pink onto grey stratocumulus stratiformis translucidus (becoming perlucidus in the background)
Stratocumulus stratiformis perlucidus before sunset. Bangalore, India.
Late-summer rainstorm in Denmark. Nearly black color of base indicates main cloud in foreground probably cumulonimbus.
Particles in the atmosphere and the sun's angle enhance colors of stratocumulus cumulogenitus at evening twilight
Total cloud cover fraction averaged over the years 1981-2010 from the CHELSA-BIOCLIM+ data set

Aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space.

- Cloud
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50 related topics with Alpha

Overall
Mesoscale sea breezes in Cuba converge from both coasts to form lines of cumulus.

Convergence zone

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Region in the atmosphere where two prevailing flows meet and interact, usually resulting in distinctive weather conditions.

Region in the atmosphere where two prevailing flows meet and interact, usually resulting in distinctive weather conditions.

Mesoscale sea breezes in Cuba converge from both coasts to form lines of cumulus.
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The ITCZ shifts with the tilt of the earth, coinciding with the changing of seasons.

This causes a mass accumulation that eventually leads to a vertical movement and to the formation of clouds and precipitation.

Thunderstorm near Garajau, Madeira

Weather

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State of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy.

State of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy.

Thunderstorm near Garajau, Madeira
Cumulonimbus cloud surrounded by stratocumulus
2015 – 5th Warmest Global Year on Record (since 1880) as of 2021 – Colors indicate temperature anomalies (NASA/NOAA; 20 January 2016).
New Orleans, Louisiana, after being struck by Hurricane Katrina. Katrina was a Category 3 hurricane when it struck although it had been a category 5 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico.
Forecast of surface pressures five days into the future for the north Pacific, North America, and the north Atlantic Ocean as on 9 June 2008
In recent decades, new high temperature records have substantially outpaced new low temperature records on a growing portion of Earth's surface.
Jupiter's Great Red Spot in February 1979, photographed by the unmanned Voyager 1 NASA space probe.
Aurora Borealis

On Earth, the common weather phenomena include wind, cloud, rain, snow, fog and dust storms.

Strokes of cloud-to-ground lightning during a thunderstorm in the town of Oradea.

Lightning

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Naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an average of one gigajoule of energy.

Naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an average of one gigajoule of energy.

Strokes of cloud-to-ground lightning during a thunderstorm in the town of Oradea.
(Figure 1) The main charging area in a thunderstorm occurs in the central part of the storm where the air is moving upward rapidly (updraft) and temperatures range from -15 to -25 C.
(Figure 2) When the rising ice crystals collide with graupel, the ice crystals become positively charged and the graupel becomes negatively charged.
The upper part of the thunderstorm cloud becomes positively charged while the middle to the lower part of the thunderstorm cloud becomes negatively charged.
World map showing the frequency of lightning strikes, in flashes per km² per year (equal-area projection), from combined 1995–2003 data from the Optical Transient Detector and 1998–2003 data from the Lightning Imaging Sensor.
Lightning in Belfort, France
The 477 mile megaflash from Texas to Louisiana.
View of lightning from an airplane flying above a system.
Certain prominent structures often attract frequent lightning strikes. The CN Tower in Toronto is struck many times every summer.
A lightning strike from cloud to ground in the Mojave Desert, California
An intra-cloud flash. A lightning flash within the cloud illuminates the entire cloud.
A downward leader travels towards earth, branching as it goes.
Lightning strike caused by the connection of two leaders, positive shown in blue and negative in red
High-speed photography showing different parts of a lightning flash during the discharge process as seen in Toulouse, France.
Cloud-to-ground lightning
A bolt from the blue lightning strike which appears to initiate from the clear, but the turbulent sky above the anvil cloud and drive a bolt of plasma through the cloud directly to the ground. They are commonly referred to as positive flashes, despite the fact that they are usually negative in polarity.
Anvil Crawler over Lake Wright Patman south of Redwater, Texas on the backside of a large area of rain associated with a cold-front
Gigantic jet as seen from the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
This CG was of very short duration, exhibited highly branched channels and was very bright indicating that it was staccato lightning near New Boston, Texas.
Explosive steam pressure between trunk and bark from lightning strike blew away birch bark
Strike mark on trunk of an Oklahoma black walnut
Volcanic material thrust high into the atmosphere can trigger lightning.
Lightning strike counter in a museum
Lightning-induced remanent magnetization (LIRM) mapped during a magnetic field gradient survey of an archaeological site located in Wyoming, United States.
Lightning by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis (1909)
Two lightning bolts pictured in the former coat of arms of the Yli-Ii municipality
Branching of cloud to cloud lightning, New Delhi, India.
Multiple paths of cloud-to-cloud lightning, Swifts Creek, Australia.
Intra-clouds lightning over the Baltic Sea.
Strokes of cloud-to-ground lightning strike the ocean off of Port-la-Nouvelle in southern France.
Data from space-based sensors reveal the uneven distribution of worldwide lightning strikes. Units: flashes/km2/yr. Data obtained from April 1995 to February 2003 from NASA's Optical Transient Detector and from January 1998 to February 2003 from NASA's Lightning Imaging Sensor.

The three main kinds of lightning are distinguished by where they occur: either inside a single thundercloud (Intra-Cloud), between two different clouds (Cloud-to-Cloud), or between a cloud and the ground (Cloud-to-Ground).

Higher Czarny Staw pod Rysami lake (elevation 1,583 m) is still frozen as the lower Morskie Oko lake has already almost melted (elevation 1,395 m. Photo from Polish side of the Tatra mountains, May 2019.

Lapse rate

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Rate at which an atmospheric variable, normally temperature in Earth's atmosphere, falls with altitude.

Rate at which an atmospheric variable, normally temperature in Earth's atmosphere, falls with altitude.

Higher Czarny Staw pod Rysami lake (elevation 1,583 m) is still frozen as the lower Morskie Oko lake has already almost melted (elevation 1,395 m. Photo from Polish side of the Tatra mountains, May 2019.
Emagram diagram showing variation of dry adiabats (bold lines) and moist adiabats (dash lines) according to pressure and temperature
The latent heat of vaporization adds energy to clouds and storms.

With further decrease in temperature the water vapor in excess of the equilibrium amount condenses, forming cloud, and releasing heat (latent heat of condensation).

An example of a Cloud Atlas

Cloud atlas

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An example of a Cloud Atlas

A cloud atlas is a pictorial key (or an atlas) to the nomenclature of clouds.

The Sun, as seen from low Earth orbit overlooking the International Space Station. This sunlight is not filtered by the lower atmosphere, which blocks much of the solar spectrum.

Sunlight

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Portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light.

Portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light.

The Sun, as seen from low Earth orbit overlooking the International Space Station. This sunlight is not filtered by the lower atmosphere, which blocks much of the solar spectrum.
Sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico and Florida. Taken on 20 October 1968 from Apollo 7.
Sunlight on Mars is dimmer than on Earth. This photo of a Martian sunset was imaged by Mars Pathfinder.
Solar irradiance spectrum at top of atmosphere, on a linear scale and plotted against wavenumber
Sunlight shining through clouds, giving rise to crepuscular rays
Spectrum of the visible wavelengths at approximately sea level; illumination by direct sunlight compared with direct sunlight scattered by cloud cover and with indirect sunlight by varying degrees of cloud cover. The yellow line shows the power spectrum of direct sunlight under optimal conditions. To aid comparison, the other illumination conditions are scaled by the factor shown in the key so they match at about 470 nm (blue light).
Sunlight penetrating through a forest canopy in Germany
Édouard Manet: Le déjeuner sur l'herbe (1862-63)
Téli verőfény ("Winter Sunshine") by László Mednyánszky, early 20th century
Sun bathers in Finland

When direct solar radiation is not blocked by clouds, it is experienced as sunshine, a combination of bright light and radiant heat.

Photo of a cloud base taken above the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, in 2005

Cloud base

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Photo of a cloud base taken above the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, in 2005

A cloud base (or the base of the cloud) is the lowest altitude of the visible portion of a cloud.

That wave cloud pattern formed over the Île Amsterdam, in the lower left corner at the tip of the triangular formation, in the far southern Indian Ocean.

Wave cloud

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That wave cloud pattern formed over the Île Amsterdam, in the lower left corner at the tip of the triangular formation, in the far southern Indian Ocean.
Wave cloud pattern in Tadrart region.
Unusual wave clouds over the Aral Sea, seen from NASA's Water satellite on March 12, 2009.
Wave cloud pattern in Germany on August 25, 2020.
Wave clouds in various directions.

A wave cloud is a cloud form created by atmospheric internal waves.

A dust devil in Ramadi, Iraq.

Atmospheric instability

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Condition where the Earth's atmosphere is generally considered to be unstable and as a result the weather is subjected to a high degree of variability through distance and time.

Condition where the Earth's atmosphere is generally considered to be unstable and as a result the weather is subjected to a high degree of variability through distance and time.

A dust devil in Ramadi, Iraq.
Anvil shaped thundercloud in the mature stage over Swifts Creek, Victoria
Conditions favorable for thunderstorm types and complexes
Image of an undular bore wave
Mirage over a hot road, with the appearance of "fake water" on its surface

Under convective instability thermal mixing through convection in the form of warm air rising leads to the development of clouds and possibly precipitation or convective storms.

Wall cloud on the right under a cumulonimbus cloud

Accessory cloud

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Wall cloud on the right under a cumulonimbus cloud

An accessory cloud is a cloud which is dependent on a larger cloud system for its development and continuance.