What is a circular cloud called?

Asked by: Jerri Koch

Lenticular clouds (Latin: Lenticularis lentil-shaped, from lenticula lentil) are stationary clouds that form mostly in the troposphere, typically in parallel alignment to the wind direction. They are often comparable in appearance to a lens or saucer.

What is a wind cloud called?

Cirrus clouds are delicate, feathery clouds that are made mostly of ice crystals. Their wispy shape comes from wind currents which twist and spread the ice crystals into strands.

What are the 4 cloud shapes?

The Four Core Types of Clouds

• Cirro-form. The Latin word ‘cirro’ means curl of hair. …
• Cumulo-form. Generally detached clouds, they look like white fluffy cotton balls. …
• Strato-form. From the Latin word for ‘layer’ these clouds are usually broad and fairly wide spread appearing like a blanket. …
• Nimbo-form.

What are spiral clouds?

Add in a lot of wind shear between the bottom and the top of the cloud, which is a change of speed or direction with height, and the air was essentially rotating on a horizontal axis, making the cloud have a cool spiral, or helix shape. While it’s nearly impossible to say for sure, it’s fun to think of possible causes.

What cloud looks like a halo?

Cirrostratus are transparent high clouds, which cover large areas of the sky. They sometimes produce white or coloured rings, spots or arcs of light around the Sun or Moon, that are known as halo phenomena. Sometimes they are so thin that the halo is the only indication that a cirrostratus cloud is in the sky.

What are the 8 main types of clouds?

Types of Clouds

• High cloud – cirrus, cirrocumulus, cirrostratus.
• Middle cloud – altostratus, altocumulus, nimbostratus.
• Low cloud – stratus, stratocumulus.
• Vertical – cumulus, cumulonimbus.

What are nimbus clouds?

A nimbus cloud is a cloud that produces precipitation. Usually the precipitation reaches the ground as rain, hail, snow, or sleet. Falling precipitation may evaporate as virga. Since nimbus clouds are dense with water, they appear darker than other clouds.

What do nimbus clouds look like?

Nimbostratus clouds are dark, grey, featureless layers of cloud, thick enough to block out the Sun. Producing persistent rain, these clouds are often associated with frontal systems provided by mid-latitude cyclones.

What are different types of clouds?

There are ten main types of clouds:

• Altocumulus.
• Altostratus.
• Cirrocumulus.
• Cirrostratus.
• Cirrus.
• Cumulonimbus.
• Cumulus.
• Nimbostratus.

What is the shape of a nimbus cloud?

Nimbus (NB) clouds are dense clouds with a strong vertical development, with towering forms. The lower part of these clouds is dark and jagged, the upper part is generally swollen and continuously evolving.

What does a stratus cloud look like?

Stratus clouds look like featureless gray to white sheets of cloud. They can be composed of water droplets, supercooled water droplets, or ice crystals depending upon the ambient temperature.

Why is it called a cirrostratus?

The name cirrostratus nebulosus is derived from Latin, the adjective nebulosus meaning “full of vapor, foggy, cloudy, dark”.

What does a cirrus cloud look like?

Cirrus clouds are short, detached, hair-like clouds found at high altitudes. These delicate clouds are wispy, with a silky sheen, or look like tufts of hair. In the daytime, they are whiter than any other cloud in the sky. While the Sun is setting or rising, they may take on the colours of the sunset.

What do stratocumulus clouds mean?

Stratocumulus clouds are hybrids of layered stratus and cellular cumulus, i.e., individual cloud elements, characteristic of cumulo type clouds, clumped together in a continuous distribution, characteristic of strato type clouds. Stratocumulus also can be thought of as a layer of cloud clumps with thick and thin areas.

How many different types of clouds are there?

The foundation consists of 10 major cloud types. In addition to cirrus, stratus, cumulus, and nimbus clouds, there are cirrostratus, cirrocumulus, altostratus, altocumulus, stratocumulus, nimbostratus, and cumulonimbus clouds.