Spectacular Clouds

A cloud is a visible mass of droplets or frozen crystals floating in the atmosphere above the surface of the Earth or another planetary body. A cloud is also a visible mass attracted by gravity, such as masses of material in space called interstellar clouds and nebulae. Clouds are studied in the nephology or cloud physics branch of meteorology.

On Earth the condensing substance is typically water vapor, which forms small droplets or ice crystals, typically 0.01 mm in diameter. When surrounded by billions of other droplets or crystals they become visible as clouds.

Cirrus Kelvin-Helmholtz

Nacreous Clouds

Altocumulus Castelanus

Noctilucent Clouds

Mushroom Clouds

From all the clouds in the sky, there are some types that look spectacular:

1.Nacreous Clouds (Polar stratospheric clouds)

- are clouds in the winter polar stratosphere at altitudes of 15,000-25,000 metres (50,000-80,000 ft).

- Nacreous clouds shine brightly in high altitude sunlight up to two hours after ground level sunset or before dawn. Their unbelievably bright iridescent colours and slow movement relative to any lower clouds make them an unmistakable and unforgettable sight.

2.Altocumulus Castelanus

- also known as jellyfish clouds due to their jellyfish-like appearance.

- these formed around 17,000 ft due to when the rush of moist air comes from the Gulf Stream and gets trapped between layers of dry air.

3.Noctilucent Clouds (polar mesospheric clouds)

- are cloud-like phenomena in the upper atmosphere, visible in a deep twilight

- they are made of crystals of water ice.

- the name means "roughly night shining" in Latin.

- they are most commonly observed in the summer months at latitudes between 50° and 70° north and south of the equator.

4.Mushroom Clouds

- a mushroom cloud is a distinctive mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke, condensed water vapor, or debris resulting from a very large explosion.

- they are most commonly associated with nuclear explosions, but any sufficiently large blast will produce the same sort of effect.

- Volcano eruptions and impact events can produce natural mushroom clouds.

5. Cirrus Kelvin-Helmholtz

- is one of the most distinctive cloud formations.

- it tends to dissipate only a minute or two after forming and, as a result, is rarely observed.

- appearing as a slender, horizontal spiral of cloud.

- average height is around 16,500 ft.