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Cloud Classification
We all take clouds for granted, yet marvel at their power during a storm or their beauty in a sunset. In our busy lives we all too frequently look downward or inward, and rarely take notice of the beauty overhead. The study of clouds is known as nephology.
 From personal experience, working daily in an airless windowless office, I find looking at the clouds incredibly calming - after all, the sky is one of the last truly open spaces. As an amateur meteorologist, I have begun to research clouds, their classification and what they mean for the short-term weather ahead. Clouds will also have a longer-term impact on our planet, and indeed could influence global warming or mediate its effects. It is yet uncertain whether global warming will result in an increase or a decrease in cloud cover, and whether changes in cloud cover, either in amounts or types, will enhance the greenhouse effect or cool the planet by reflecting sunlight away from the atmosphere.
Clouds were first classified by Luke Howard in 1802. He defined clouds into three basic categories: Cirrus (from the Latin meaning fibre or hair), cumulus (heap or pile) and stratus (layer or sheet). Much of Luke Howard’s classification survives today in the International Cloud Atlas, published by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The ten principal cloud genera are further subdivided into fourteen species and nine varieties, much like genus and species classification in biology, resulting in twenty-seven distinct sky states. These internationally accepted cloud states are denoted by a specific symbol used in aviation and meteorology worldwide, and will be described in the pages below.
A sound understanding of the ever-changing skies above us, and more importantly observing how the skies change over time, enables almost as accurate a short-term local forecast as any scientific forecasting model.
Look up, not down - the beauty of the skies will astound you.
References:
“The Cloud Book - How to Understand the Skies”, Richard Hamblyn in association with the Met Office
“Cloud Classifications”, National Weather Service JetStream Max
“Cloud types for observers, Reading the sky”, The Met Office
“Cloud”, Wikipedia
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