#cumulus radiatus

[fatchance]

Cloud streets.

Lines of Cumulus radiatus clouds over Show Low, Arizona. This cloud form typically aligns parallel to the wind direction. And they really are called cloud streets.

Seen on a flight between PHX and MKE.

[cumulus-skynews]

Lets Not Get Ahead of Our Clouds...

   Hello fellow Cloud-lovers, I hope all of your weekends were filled with bright skies as were the skies in the Chicago area.  We had some variety and unique formations occur in our celestial sphere over the past couple days; perfect for filling in the great blue void above.  Also, with temperatures in the 60's and 70's, what is there to hate?  

   Over the weekend I caught glimpses of Cumulus humilis, Cumulus humilis radiatus (5a), Altocumulus leaving long trails of virga (6a), as well as those fleeting clouds whose soul purpose is to avoid characterization with their curious appearances.  As one observes these ambivalent beings through expansive mediums, it is in their very nature to change.  As they coalesce, separate, dissipate, grow, flatten, evaporate, expand; basically as they follow the (extremely complex) systems of fluid dynamics the air which surrounds them submits to, it is impossible to have a perfect classification and definition for each fleeting moment in their short life spans (which can be as short as on hour or less).

   Here is an excellent link which reveals the cloud classification system that is used all around the world (and an excellent resource, coming from NOAA's website [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association]).  

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lmk/?n=cloud_classification

The classification model uses Latin and traces back to Luke Howard in 1803.  While he was initially a Manufacturing Chemist in Britian, he later focused on meteorology and is considered by some to the the father of the field.  He was one of the first to claim that clouds are a production of their environment just as all things are, and their characteristics can reveal those environmental features which can provide valuable information to us, like when rainfall was coming for an example.

"Clouds are subject to certain distinct modifications, produced by the general causes which affect all the variations of the atmosphere; they are commonly as good visible indicators of the operation of these causes, as is the countenance of the state of a person's mind or body." ~Luke Howard

     Just as a doctor prescribes medication for an individual's illness based on their symptoms, so we can prescribe an understanding to our climate and daily weather to the cloud cover.  Unfortunately this study of weather, left to the meteorologists, is much more complex than simply looking at a couple clouds in the sky and then providing an accurate description of the daily weather.

  But as we all know, the age of science is a relatively new era for the human race.  We understand now that there must be causes for the effects which lead clouds to form as they naturally do.  But what did generations before this time see as they stared from the foundations of the earth to the heavens?  Besides the same hues of blues, whites, and warm sunsets, they saw the sky as the ethereal residence of the heavens!  The sky was magnified with humanity's unique quality of capitalizing on rhetoric and disposition.  Many religious texts include the divine qualities of the infinite aesthetic qualities of the sky.

1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart, 2 and was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. 3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Eli'jah talking with him. 4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Eli'jah. 5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased 

Matthew 17:1-5

  This is an example where the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, all-powerful ruler of the universe IS SPEAKING THROUGH A FLIPPIN CLOUD!  Seems the big man upstairs has good taste in his appearance...or wardrobe...or whatever.

So let us remember the clouds are vessels to some of the most fantastic compositions in the history of mankind.  Let us remember as we continually decipher these vessels' meanings, abstractions, and purposes; it is necessary to look up and let their existence be known.

12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:

13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud

Genesis 9:12-14