Identifying different types of clouds.

You can identify clouds by looking at their shape and height above the earth.

There are 3 basic types of clouds:

• Cirrus Clouds
• Cumulus Clouds - also altocumulus and cumulonimbus clouds
• Stratus Clouds - also altostratus and nimbostratus clouds

Cirrus Clouds	These are the whitest, highest clouds made of tiny ice crystals. They are often wispy in appearance.
Cumulus Clouds	They are often low in the air and look like cotton wool or like cauliflower on top with a flat base. Cumulus is Latin for 'heap'. Clusters of small white cumulus clouds are usually a sign of fine weather. Sometimes cumulus clouds develop into the storm cloud cumulonimbus which brings lightning and thunder. Cumulonimbus Clouds are called 'the King of Clouds'. The base of a cumulonimbus cloud is often low but it may be as high as 10 kilometers.
Stratus Clouds	These appear as light grey clouds that look like even sheets and cover all or part of the sky. They are composed of fine water droplets that become larger as they collide with each other and are often very low in the air.

 The picture above was taken from http://australiansevereweather.simplenet.com/index.html Click on this link to see more weather pictures. For more information on cloud types, click here to visit http://www.swannet.com.au/moby/airaust/weather/clouds.html