The science behind clouds and how to remember their (latin) names Mon., June 23, 2025 Storm clouds gather above a train in 2023 as it rolls through the Pleasantview Road crossing near Post Falls.

To understand how clouds get their shape, it helps to understand the basics of how they form. When air rises and cools, the water vapor it holds condenses into tiny water droplets or ice crystals.

True to their name, lenticular clouds are lens-shaped, and they’re also often compared to UFOs or stacks of pancakes. When high winds encounter a tall structure—like a mountain or even a ...

Cloud names incorporate roots like cirro, strato, cumulo, nimbo, or alto, based on their height and texture. Sunburns are possible on cloudy days as over 90% of UV radiation can penetrate cloud cover.

When clouds form thick layers, we add the word “stratus,” or “layer,” to the name. Stratus can occur just above the ground, or a bit higher up – we call it altostratus then.

People who study the weather, called meteorologists, have several different names for clouds. The name changes based on how the clouds look. These differently shaped clouds can also tell you how ...

NOAA satellites captured actinoform clouds over the eastern Pacific Ocean on June 3, 2021. These collections of shallow clouds, organized in a distinctive radial pattern, often appear as leaf-like or ...

A “roll cloud” spotted off the coast of Portugal looked like something out of a movie. Here’s the science behind it.

Aotearoa is the land of the long white cloud - except we have multiple unique clouds, some with their own names. One is the Taieri Pet, a UFO-shaped cloud only seen above the Taieri Plains in Otago.

MOLINE, Ill. — Storm clouds come in many shapes and sizes, but what about their colors? What can that tell us about a particular storm? That's a question John from Milan, Illinois, submitted ...

There are 10 main cloud types, including the fluffy-looking cumulus clouds seen here. 29,385 people played the daily Crossword recently. Can you solve it faster than others?29,385 people played the ...