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Cumulus clouds are clouds that have flat bases and are often described as puffy, cotton-like, or fluffy in appearance. Their name derives from the Latin cumulus, meaning "heap" or "pile". [ 1] Cumulus clouds are low-level clouds, generally less than 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in altitude unless they are the more vertical cumulus congestus form.
Stratocumulus clouds are the main type of cloud that can produce crepuscular rays. Thin stratocumulus clouds are also often the cause of corona effects around the Moon at night. All stratocumulus subtypes are coded C L 5 except when formed from free convective mother clouds (C L 4) or when formed separately from co-existing (C L 8).
The list of cloud types groups all genera as high (cirro-, cirrus), middle (alto-), multi-level (nimbo-, cumulo-, cumulus), and low (strato-, stratus). These groupings are determined by the altitude level or levels in the troposphere at which each of the various cloud types is normally found. Small cumulus are commonly grouped with the low ...
Cirrocumulus is a cloud of the stratocumuliform physical category that shows both stratiform and cumuliform characteristics and typically appears as white, patchy sheets with ripples or tufts without gray shading. [ 6] Each cloudlet appears no larger than a finger held at arm's length. [ 4]
Cumulus congestus or towering cumulus clouds are a species of cumulus that can be based in the low- to middle-height ranges. They achieve considerable vertical development in areas of deep, moist convection. They are an intermediate stage between cumulus mediocris and cumulonimbus, sometimes producing rainshowers, snow, or ice pellets. [ 2]
Cumulonimbus clouds. September 19, 2023: Cumulonimbus clouds rise behind wind turbines in Big Spring, Texas. Towering, dense clouds with a flat, anvil-shaped top. Develops from cumulus clouds and ...
Altocumulus (from Latin altus 'high' and cumulus 'heaped') [ 1] is a middle-altitude cloud genus that belongs mainly to the stratocumuliform physical category, characterized by globular masses or rolls in layers or patches – the individual elements being larger and darker than those of cirrocumulus and smaller than those of stratocumulus. [ 2]
Cumulonimbus (from Latin cumulus 'swell' and nimbus 'cloud') is a dense, towering, vertical cloud, [ 1] typically forming from water vapor condensing in the lower troposphere that builds upward carried by powerful buoyant air currents. Above the lower portions of the cumulonimbus the water vapor becomes ice crystals, such as snow and graupel ...