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- │ L'Weather CLOUDS.HLP Some Information About Clouds 03-10-1990 │
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- │ 1. Low Clouds - Cloud bases between land surface and 7000' (0--2km). │
- │ 2. Medium Clouds - Cloud bases between 7000 and 25000' (2--8km). │
- │ 3. High Clouds - Cloud bases between 16000 and 45000' (5--13km). │
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- │ General Information : Cirrus is a higher cloud than Altostratus, and │
- │ Altostratus higher than cumulus, etc. │
- │ │
- │ Classification by shape : a. Heap Clouds (Cumuliform) │
- │ b. Layer Clouds (Stratiform) │
- │ c. Feathery Clouds (Cirroform) │
- │ │
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- │Height & Shape │Abbreviation│ Name │ Description │
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- │ 1a │ Cu │ Cumulus │ Low heap clouds of small │
- │ │ │ │ vertical extent │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ 1ab │ Sc │ Stratocumulus │ Low heap layer clouds either │
- │ │ │ │ broken or covering whole sky. │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ 123a │ Cb │ Cumulonimbus │ Heap clouds of great vertical │
- │ │ │ │ extent producing showers and │
- │ │ │ │ thunderstorms. │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ 1b │ St │ Stratus │ Low, or very low, amorphous │
- │ │ │ │ layer clouds covering coasts │
- │ │ │ │ and hills. │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ 123b │ Ns │ Nimbostratus │ Layered, often solid clouds of │
- │ │ │ │ great vertical extent associated│
- │ │ │ │ with bad weather. │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ 2ab │ Ac │ Altocumulus │ Medium level heap clouds in │
- │ │ │ │ 'islands' or 'rafts' seldom │
- │ │ │ │ covering the whole sky. │
- │ │ │ │ Associated with the term │
- │ │ │ │ 'mackerel sky', other forms are │
- │ │ │ │ lenticularis (lens-shaped) and │
- │ │ │ │ castellanus and floccus │
- │ │ │ │ (chaotic clouds of thundery │
- │ │ │ │ skies). │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ 2b │ As │ Altostratus │ Medium level layer clouds │
- │ │ │ │ associated with the term │
- │ │ │ │ 'a watery sun'. │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ 3c │ Ci │ Cirrus │ High clouds mainly formed by │
- │ │ │ │ more-or-less dense heads from │
- │ │ │ │ which fall streaks or trails │
- │ │ │ │ (fallstreaks). So producing │
- │ │ │ │ hooks, banners, etc. │
- │ │ │ │ Associated with the term │
- │ │ │ │ 'mares tails'. │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ 3ab │ Cc │ Cirrocumulus │ High heap clouds arranged │
- │ │ │ │ together in sheets of dappled │
- │ │ │ │ or rippled, etc. appearance. │
- │ │ │ │ Associated with 'mackerel sky'. │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ 3b │ Cs │ Cirrostratus │ High amorphous cloud often │
- │ │ │ │ covering the entire sky and │
- │ │ │ │ sometimes only revealed by the │
- │ │ │ │ presence of haloes about the │
- │ │ │ │ sun or the moon. │
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