(Click image to enlarge) (Image © Laura Billings)
If the average person were to close their eyes and think of a cloud, chances are they would picture this little fellow, for the cumulus feels like the most generic of all the cloud types. It is a fair-weather specimen, born on the invisible thermals of air that rise from the ground on a sunny day.
As any six-year-old child will tell you, cumulus are the most comfortable of all the clouds to sit on. They are like gentle tufts of cotton wool on which dreamers can kick back and shoot the breeze. This fact was not missed by the Italian painters of the Baroque period who rarely depicted a saint or an angel without a comfy cumulus cloud for them to recline on.
Whilst there are many rare and fancy cloud types vying for our attention, cloudspotters should never forget to appreciate the light-hearted cumulus. He may be common, but how many other clouds can claim to be the sofas of the saints?
Current Cloud of the Month:
Microbursts (May 08)
Previous Clouds of the Month:
Irridescent Clouds (April 08)
Northern Lights – Aurora Borealis (March 08)
Ice halos (February 08)
Lightning (January 08)
Roll Cloud (December 07)
Banner Cloud (November 07)
Stratocumulus (October 07)
The Unclassified Cloud (September 07)
Alexander’s Dark Band (August 07)
Fumulus Snail (July 07)
Distrail (June 07)
Altocumulus undulatus (May 07)
Cumulonimbus capillatus (April 07)
Lacunosus (March 07)
Horseshoe Vortex Cloud (February 07)
Jet-Stream Cirrus (Janurary 07)
Altostratus/Altocumulus/Altowhateveritis (December 06)
Anti-Crepuscular Rays (November 06)
Stratocumulus (October 06)
Altocumulus (September ’06)
The Kelvin-Helmholtz Wave Cloud (August ’06)
The ‘Brocken Spectre’ (July ’06)
‘Whale’s Mouth’ (June ’06)
Noctilucent (May ’06)
Cirrus (April ’06)
Cap Cloud (March ’06)
Fallstreak Holes (February ’06)
Nacreous (January ’06)
Cirrostratus (December ’05)
Tuba (November ’05)
Virga (October ’05)
Cirrocumulus (September ’05)
Altostratus (August ’05)
Cumulus (July ’05)
Mamma (June ’05)
Pileus (May ’05)
Lenticularis (April ’05)
Stratus (March ’05)
Cumulonimbus (February ’05)
Contrails (January ’05)
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