Weather in Layers

Photo by Craig Johnson (24 May 2019)

Two cloud layers dominate this scene; low and high. The low clouds are stratocumulus seen in the lower half of the photo. Stratocumulus have both stratus (layered) and cumulus (heaped) characteristics. The high layer is cirrus, which is found in the upper 3/4ths of the photo. Cirrus are mostly ice crystal clouds while stratocumulus are made of water droplets. The lower cloud layer is warmer than freezing while the high layer is below freezing. Low clouds are below 6,000 feet, by definition, and the high clouds are above 16,500 feet.