Altocumulus

Fine fall days include sunshine, light winds, and beautiful cloud patterns stretched across the sky. These altocumulus clouds spread quickly overhead as strong mid-level winds ushered in weakly unstable air. Notice the cellular look to the clouds shaped as ovals surrounded by narrow bands of blue sky. The patterns change from one side of the photo to the other showing slightly different levels of instability.

The clouds in the lower left corner have more stratus characteristics than cumulus while the clouds at the far right are definitely in the cumulus family with greater vertical dimension to the clouds. Be sure to look up this time of year because we are transitioning to winter with more energetic storms and many interesting cloud types to see.

Photo copyright, Craig Johnson