Cloud Types

Cirrus clouds form high in the atmosphere, and are made of tiny ice crystals. The word cirrus is Latin for "curl of hair", so the name is fitting for these thin, wispy clouds. Although cirrus clouds can mean that rain or snow is on the way, the clouds themselves hardly ever release precipitation, and if they do the ice crystals that they drop will evaporate before they reach the ground.

Cirrus clouds mean changes in the weather.




Stratus clouds are relatively low-lying. They look like fog that isn't touching the ground, and in fact sometimes they are formed from fog that has lifted. Stratus do produce light precipitation, and will often be accompanied by a drizzly rain or snow. This is more likely to happen if it is a nimbostratus cloud.

Stratus clouds mean that the weather will be gloomy, even if it doesn't rain.
           


Cumulus clouds are also pretty low in the sky, and look like big balls of cotton. Cumulus clouds develop vertically, so they are often very tall as well as thick. Cumulus clouds don't usually produce precipitation, but they can turn into a cumulonimbus which is a storm cloud.

Cumulus clouds mean blue skies ahead.

Nimbus clouds are rain clouds. The word nimbus actually means "rain" in Latin, and any cloud with the prefix "nimbo" or the suffix "nimbus" is a rain cloud.

There are many other clouds in the world, and most of them are named by mixing the main types: cirrus, stratus, cumulus, and nimbus. However you will never find clouds by the name of nimbocirrus or cirronimbus because cirrus clouds hardly ever produce rain.