How to see the weather through clouds

1. Cirrus: It has a silky structure and silky luster, separating scattered clouds. Clouds are usually white and shadowless, and appear in the form of silk strips, feathers, ponytails, hooks, clusters, sheets and anvil. In the northern and western plateau areas of China, there are sporadic cirrus snowfalls in winter. Before sunrise and after sunset, cirrus clouds are often bright yellow or orange under the reflection of solar light. In the cold season in the northern and western plateau areas of China, we sometimes encounter a low-altitude cloud, which looks like stratocumulus, but it has the characteristics of filamentous structure and silky luster, and sometimes it is dizzy, which should be recorded as cirrus clouds. If there is no cirrus feature, it should be recorded as stratocumulus.

2. cirrocumulus: Clouds or clouds composed of small-scale or spherical clouds, usually arranged in rows or groups, much like small ripples caused by breeze blowing over the water surface. White without shadow, silky luster. Cirrocumulus can be evolved from cirrus and cirrostratus. Sometimes cumulus clouds can evolve into cirrocumulus. At the edge of the whole layer of cumulus clouds, sometimes there are small cumulus clouds, which are quite similar in shape to cirrocumulus, but don't mistake them for cirrocumulus. Only those who meet one or more of the following conditions can be considered as cirrocumulus.

3. cirrostratus: White transparent cloud curtain. When the sun and the moon pass through the cloud curtain, the outline is clear, and the ground objects have shadows, often with halo rings. Sometimes the organization of the cloud is so thin that it is almost invisible that it only makes the sky milky white; Sometimes the structure of silk thread is indistinguishable, like a tangled thread. In the northern and western plateau areas of China, there can be a little snowfall in cirrostratus in winter.

4. Altocumulus: Altocumulus is a small, well-defined cloud, usually flat, flat, fish-scale or wavy. Arranged in groups, rows and waves. The apparent width angle of most clouds is 1-5. Sometimes it appears at two or more heights. Thin clouds are white and thick clouds are dark gray. On the thin cumulus clouds, there are often rainbow colors around the sun and the moon, or Chinese rings with red outside and blue inside. Altocumulus can evolve with stratocumulus, stratocumulus and cirrocumulus.

5. High-level cloud: a cloud curtain with striped or fibrous structure, sometimes even, gray or gray in color, and sometimes slightly blue. In the thin part of the clouds, you can see the vague outline of the sun and the moon, which looks like a layer of ground glass. Thick high-level clouds, darker at the bottom, can't see the sun and the moon. Due to the different thickness of the cloud, the brightness of each part is different, but there is no obvious fluctuation at the bottom of the cloud. High-level clouds can drop continuous or intermittent rain and snow. If several rain (snow) banners hang down, the stripe structure at the bottom of the cloud can still be distinguished. High-level clouds are usually formed by cirrostratus thickening or nimbostratus thinning. Sometimes it can also evolve from shaded cumulus clouds. In southern China, sometimes cumulonimbus clouds extend in the upper or middle part, and can also form high-level clouds, but the duration is not long.

6. nimbostratus: The thick and uniform precipitation cloud completely covers the sun and the moon, and it is dark gray, covering the whole day, with continuous precipitation. If rain (snow) banners are formed at the bottom of the cloud due to insufficient precipitation, the bottom of the cloud appears chaotic and has no clear boundaries. Nimbostratus is mostly evolved from high-level clouds, and sometimes it can also be evolved from shaded altocumulus and shaded stratocumulus.

7. Stratocumulus: Clouds or clouds composed of massive, flaky or striped clouds, usually arranged in rows, groups or waves. Clouds are quite large, and their apparent width angles are mostly greater than 5 (equivalent to the apparent width of one arm and three fingers). Clouds are sometimes distributed all day, sometimes sparsely, often gray and grayish white, and some parts are often dark. Stratocumulus sometimes rains and snows, usually in small amounts. In addition to direct generation, stratocumulus can also be evolved from altocumulus, stratocumulus and nimbostratus, or expanded or diffused from cumulus and cumulonimbus.

8. Stratus clouds: low and uniform clouds, like fog, but not grounded, are gray or grayish white. Stratocumulus clouds are not only directly generated, but also slowly lifted by fog or evolved from stratocumulus clouds. It may rain or snow in Mao Mao.

9. Cumulus clouds: clouds that develop vertically upward, with overlapping projections of circular arc or arch at the top and almost horizontal at the bottom. The boundary of the cloud is clear. If the cumulus cloud and the sun are in opposite positions, the middle of the cloud is brighter than the edge of the uplift; On the other hand, if they are on the same side, the middle of the cloud looks dark but the edge is bright golden yellow; If the light reflects cumulus clouds from the side, the brightness of the clouds is particularly obvious. Cumulus clouds are formed by air mass rising and water vapor condensation.

10, Cumulonimbus Cloud: The cloud body is thick and huge, and its vertical development is extremely prosperous. Seen from a distance, it looks like a towering mountain. Genting is composed of ice crystals, with a filiform structure and a white hair-like luster, often in the shape of anvil or horsehair. The cloud bottom is dark and chaotic, with obvious ups and downs, and sometimes it is in a suspended spherical structure. Cumulonimbus clouds often produce thunderstorms, showers (snow) or rain and snow. Sometimes it produces strong winds or hail. There are occasional tornadoes at the bottom of the clouds.

Other clouds

1, condensation trail refers to the slender thin cloud formed when jet planes pass at high altitude.

2. noctilucent clouds are very rare. They are formed in the middle layer of the atmosphere and can only be seen at high latitudes.