By Ken M. Blomberg

If I were a cloud, I fancy myself cumulus. Not the plump, chubby ones sky-watchers and weathermen adore. Rather the lean, mean ones slipping by at 20,000 feet. Cirro-Cumulus by definition, they create dappled skies high above other cloud formations, 15,000 feet above their distant cousins, the common Cumulus.

Do you realize there are 11 forms and appearances of clouds? When arranged in the order of their travelling height and formation, the old expressions, “the higher the cloud, the finer the weather” and “red skies at night, sailors delight” makes predicting upcoming weather both elementary and mystical.

From ground level to 1,000 feet, the first form of mist denotes rain or dew in summer, winter white means frost. Then comes Stratus, under 5,000 feet. Early stages of light, misty stratus turn dark, threatening Nimbus rain clouds above 5,000 feet. At 6,500 Cumulus appear, turn to Strato-Cumulus up to 8,000 foot levels, Cumulo-Nimbus up to 13,000 and Alto-Cumulus above 13,000 feet. Recall, “the higher the cloud, the finer the weather”.

Should clouds reach 16,500 feet, they become horizontal sheets of Alto-Stratus, harbingers of fine weather if the barometer remains high and steady. Cirro-Cumulus (my favorite) appears at 20,000 feet, disperse at 27,000 as Cirro-Stratus and whisper into light streaks of Cirrus clouds. If these clouds dissolve and seem to vanish, it is an indication of fine weather. But if they appear to change back to Cirro- Stratus, it is a sign of rain to come.

The cloud formation elevations above have been recognized since 1891 by Doctors Carl Lang and Fritz Erk. The masses of vapor we call clouds have been perceived since the beginning of time by man and according to weather lore expert, Richard Inwards, “Even the most casual observer may soon judge of the age of a cloud, whether seen in its early stage of light, misty stratus, or in the form of a dark, threatening nimbus, ripe for rain, and spreading like a vampire’s wing over the landscape.”

Cloud weather predictions are strictly weather lore. According to Inwards, “The state of the weather is almost the first subject about which people talk when they meet, and it is not surprising that a matter of such importance to comfort, health, prosperity, and even life itself, should form the usual text and starting-point for the conversation of daily life.”

Clouds slipped by in waves over my backyard the other day. I wondered where they had been, what kind they were and what they had to tell me about the weather to come. If I were a cloud, I fancied myself cumulus. What would you be?